One Step At a Time
by x0Francisco0x
Summary: Just when things start to come around, tragedy strikes and Yusei is left an orphan in an increasingly chaotic world. Armed with only his wits and a guitar, Yusei and his friends must struggle to keep their bonds intact as life hits them head first and an unexpected revelation threatens to destroy the group from within. Musician themes, Yusei x Jack.
1. Bad Boy

**I think I was listening to Black Veil Brides when I thought of this, although I could be mistaken. I guess this story stems from my own desire to become a musician one day. I took piano lessons during my freshman year of high school and relatively enjoyed it for the first few months, but my interest was quickly squashed when my new instructor came in and was very determined to whip me into an A class pianist that would be performing concerts across Europe. I quit shortly thereafter, and I can't say that I've regretted it in the slightest.**

**Most of my musical experience comes from chorus, where I learned that I can mimic other singers' voices well enough to make everything think I was a cheating scum bag who was just lip-synching during the talent show. This idea was ****also**** quickly squashed when they considered that my singing partner at the time was an aspiring opera singer and didn't need to lip-synch anything, and that it would have been impossible to have a duet karaoke that didn't play her parts but played mine. I was a mild-mannered person at the time, so it felt strange telling people to suck it when I was normally so polite. XD**

**Now that time has passed, I've decided to give music another go, and thought it best to start slow by taking computer music classes. (Garageband, I love you…) So if my terminology is off, I don't mean to offend any legit musicians. I am learning, but so much of this is self-taught that I'm not getting everything.**

**I just got a black Dreadnaught acoustic guitar that I've named Black Beauty, and hope to start learning in a few weeks since my guitar is currently residing at someone else's house (long story). If I still have the strength to write this story by then, then perhaps my skills in describing this tale will increase. :) Until then, bear with me!**

Track One: Bad Boy

"Be my bad boy, be my man. Be my weekend lover, but don't be my friend. You can be my bad boy, but understand that I don't need you in my life again."

~ Cascada

.o.

Ever since he had seen the blonde teenager pantomiming finger placement on a guitar, removing him from Yusei Fudo's side had become a legendary task suitable only for the bravest of souls to attempt—a quest that a lowly squire might attempt in order to achieve knighthood and win the fair maiden's hand in marriage. Luckily for Yusei, he did not especially mind Jack's company. It just utterly perplexed him sometimes.

And because Yusei did not mind Jack's company, Jack had more or less made himself quite at home in the Fudo residence. It was not that the lanky teen had no home to return to, or lived with abusive guardians who would flog him day in and day out per say (in fact, his guardian worked with Yusei's father)—he just really preferred their house. And once again, luckily for Yusei, his father, Professor Hakase Fudo, did not mind the blonde's constant mooching for dinner. Jack was not the first growing teenager to invade their house and raid their refrigerator when everyone's back was turned, and one late evening Hakase admitted that Jack likely would not be the last, either. Like or not, Yusei tended to draw in characters that had loyalty streak in them somewhere, and had no small amount of good people to call his friends.

(He also said that he and Jack would likely spend the rest of their lives together, but to that Yusei just rolled his eyes and turned up the volume on his iPod, drowning out the well-meant but undesired comment.)

So with that said, Yusei's friends were allowed habitation in the Fudo house as long as their parents did not mind and they remembered to take their shoes off at the door. The shoes were important, because they told Yusei who was in and who was out whenever he returned home from his afterschool job at the Poppo Time garage. His dad had tried to gauge who was home based on the instruments lying about, but the others were starting to just leave their things there in favor of lugging to it home or around school. They had keys, after all. Hakase had joked "who doesn't have a key to our house" once. It was understandable.

That particular day it was only him and Jack at the house, Yusei's welcome-home prefaced with his tripping over Jack's boots. The damned things were ridiculously tall, glowing a clean silvery-white in the light of the afternoon through the window. Yeah, while Jack got the message to take off his shoes, he had yet to understand that that meant actually moving them against the wall so no one—like Yusei, for example—tripped over them and fell to his untimely death.

No one rushed to see if Yusei was all right either, but that was not all that surprising. Jack was an ass to _nth_ degree.

After picking himself up off the floor the dark haired teen kicked off his own, shorter boots (nudging them and Jack's shoes against the wall with his foot) and cleared the entry hallway and deposited his book bag on the coffee table in the living room, the common room for the boys. Occasionally it was used to eat and hosted many a video game night over the years, and had seen a few make-out sessions that always had to be cut short because there was _always_ someone walking around. Mostly, though, it was for group homework sessions. Okay, for Yusei to do his homework in. Crow almost never bothered and half the time Jack and Kalin were doing stupid shit to each other to see who flipped their lid first. Ninety-percent of the time, it was Jack.

_Huge shocker there_, Yusei drawled to himself as he wandered into the kitchen. An empty plate already sat on the counter, dusted with crumbs from _something_, and a few drops of soda lay sprinkled about it. Laying the plate in the sink and retrieving an apple from the basket on the counter, Yusei double-stepped the stairs up to the second floor, following the sound of L'Arc-en-ciel to his room at the end of the hall. Jack was lying on the floor for the most part, but his feet and calves rested on Yusei's bed while he held up his iPhone with two hands, tapping the screen feverishly. Usually he was naked and out cold on Yusei's bed with his clothes lying carelessly on the floor, so the change of pace was interesting. Yusei was able to slam the door shut with his foot without Jack noticing at all, and to make the shock all the more extreme he threw his apple at Jack at the same time as he killed the music.

"—_the fuck?!_" Jack loudly cussed as the apple connected with his cheek and threw his concentration. He spluttered as he shook his head before looking up at Yusei. The dark teen regarded him with an empty stare, something he knew Jack absolutely despised. The blonde settled back on the floor, peeved. "What's _your_ problem?" he asked, although Jack knew well enough by now that if Yusei was irritated, it was likely at him.

"Pick up your shit," Yusei said as he kicked Jack's purple book bag to the side so he could pull out his desk chair. Guitar picks and paper hornets spilled out onto the floor as a result, but neither teen made a move to pick them up. Yusei turned his back to the taller boy and opened up the Internet to check his email. Behind him, Jack scoffed loudly.

"Why? You always put my things away before I can put them away myself."

Yusei scrolled through his messages. "That's not an excuse," he shot back, although half-heartedly due to his divided attention. He could feel Jack rolling his eyes at him. "I'm not your mother."

"I don't have a mother."

"My point exactly—and we know for a fact that _I'm_ not her."

"That doesn't make any sense."

Yusei sent Jack a dubious look. "Because _you_ can tell when things make sense?"

_Click, click, click_, went his touchscreen. "More so than a certain guy always daydreaming about my ass in English class."

Now it was Yusei's turn to scoff. "Yeah, you keep thinking that, Jack."

"Don't mind if I do," he said smoothly, eyes locked on the tiny screen in front of him once again. Yusei resisted the urge to fling something else at the guitarist and returned to scrolling through the pile-up of emails sent to him. Most of them he trashed, the messages containing nothing but ridiculous invitations to colleges across the country—and something from Victoria's Secrets. _Jack_. Yusei was still a sophomore, barely ready to begin thinking about college, but his father had insisted on contacting all the top academies he could think of for updates about the activities of the school. Yusei even got some foreign invites, ranging from schools in England and Austria to distant America. It was nice of them to "remember him" and all, but there was only so much planning for the future that he could do before his brain fizzled and shut down. _Sorry, Carnegie Mellon, but not today_. Delete.

Yusei loved music. He loved listening to songs and trying to break them down, note by note. He loved working on covers and adding his own twist to them. He loved staying up all hours of the night with the others, all of them sprawled out across the basement half asleep and still trying to create that perfect rhythm that might pull a song together and make it something. He loved it. Loved it all. He lost all care for the world around him when he was strumming by himself on the balcony, the sun barely breaking the horizon and his corner of town still sleepy.

So…what college could further _that?_

Not having anything of interest left to answer, Yusei closed the Internet and prepared to shut his laptop when a loud crunching noise suddenly shot across the room, and his gaze snapped over to his lounging houseguest. Who was eating an apple. _His_ apple.

"Don't you take another bite," Yusei growled in warning when the blonde prepared to take another large chunk of red apple. Jack had only taken a single bite from the fruit, but like everything else on him, his mouth was so freaking huge that it seemed like he had taken five.

Jack showed his friend the chewed contents in his mouth. "You want it back?"

Yusei eyed the mushy contents with a disdainful glare. Really, was it necessary to be disgusting? Do not get him wrong—he loved pedaling through the mud and roughhousing as much as the next teenage boy, but since when did the definition of _male human_ become "animal"? "That's fucking gross."

"Girl."

"You're a pig."

"You're anal retentive."

"Not nearly as much as you."

Jack returned to whatever was so engaging on his phone, but still took the time to appreciate Yusei's generous hospitality by attempting to trip him by grabbing his ankle when he wandered too close, nearly sending the dark teen sprawling to the floor. Once Yusei freed himself of the pale teen's grasp he snatched up the remaining apple from the bear trap that had become Jack's teeth and threw himself on his bed to chew and stare at the asshole he had stupidly come to call his friend.

"You're a douche," Yusei said plainly.

"I love you, too," Jack replied vaguely. _Click click click_.

"You love _ramen_."

"I can do two things at once."

"Bullcrap. You're too stupid to use that many brain cells at once."

Jack kicked him, although the momentum was lost with him lying on the floor at the same time.

He had known about the blonde's existence before befriending him, having had classes with him since the eighth grade. At first they had only shared homeroom and study hall back in middle school, not even acknowledging the other's presence like many kids often did. Jack Atlas was a name and face he recognized, nothing more, and Jack had appropriately felt the same. They stuck to different crowds, had different after school hobbies—not once had they bothered to make contact. But once they hit high school the windows of chance had opened up more, and the two found themselves colliding more often than not. And he did mean _colliding_. The two of them had a reputation for getting bloody noses whenever they were in the vicinity of each other.

Their first semester as freshman had been spent in gym class, where Jack's freakish height came to be a great advantage amongst his classmates, many of whom had either stopped growing or had yet to start. On the flip side, Yusei had become fast from years spent playing soccer, and the two were fairly matched when it came to athletics. They competed with each other, like most boys liked to do at that age, and focused most of their energy on besting the other in class. Jack had still been an ass even back then, and gloated for all he could whenever he defeated Yusei. Occasionally, if the beating Yusei had received had been especially defeating, Jack's antagonizing would extend outside the class room. (Cue bloody noses). It took some trial and error, but one day Yusei had managed to get the drop on Jack in class, silencing the boy and his taunting. After Jack's harrowing defeat, it seemed a switch had been thrown in the blonde boy, and he lessened his teasing. Lessened, mind you. Jack Atlas never stopped gloating once he had an understanding of who he was better than. Or, at least people he assumed he was better than. Old habits were hard to break.

Outside of gym class, though, Jack was different. Competing in an environment where open friendly competition was encouraged did wonders for his disposition, but remove him from such an environment and he became a changed person. Smart though he was, competing academically in the classroom just about shut him down. It was the atmosphere, Jack had once told him. It was too still and small. He liked momentum—he liked the sky. Yusei had honestly not noticed his disposition until he ventured upon Jack by himself one day, teen's usual crowd of followers dispersed due to it being the middle of class. It was not sorrow that had marked his eyes, but even Yusei was able to see that something was off in the way he had been standing against the lockers. Like something was stuck and he was about die.

The two of them had stared at each other, as Yusei had come to halt in front of the blonde to gawk. Initially Yusei had thought that Jack had been trying to challenge him, the look in his eyes was so aggressive and haunting. But as he stepped closer and the lilac eyes came into light Yusei realized that Jack was pleading for help.

A step forward and a touch was all that it took.

Fifteen sweaty minutes later they both came at each other's hand and collapsed against the brick wall out behind the school from exhaustion. All his teenage life Yusei had heard stories of boys coming at a single touch, and the fact that he and Jack took longer than most had struck him as interesting even when it was not important.

The air had been chilled with the coming winter and two had quickly tucked themselves back into their pants before Jack closed the distance between them again, opening his jacket up so that he could wrap up Yusei as well. Lips bruised from harsh kissing soon became chapped in the cold wind, and red faces remained pink thanks to the chill. It was only then that Yusei saw the difference in Jack's eyes, his gaze having gone from dying light to a full on blaze. The two sat there shivering until the bell rang for lunch, fingers entwined in a tight grasp of mutual reassurance that things would never go back to the way they were.

That was when everyone started to remark how changed Yusei looked, his father included, but who made him truly notice it was Jack, who one day sat next to him during lunch without warning. Yusei's friends stared at the two in disbelief when Jack did not start a fight and Yusei did not tell him off, and not once had he ever felt like they deserved an explanation. Jack's presence was on and off for a few weeks, his arrival and departure wordless, but the turning point came when Yusei caught him leaning against the lockers again, strumming the air to some unheard music. Without thinking Yusei had named the song, having played it himself on his old acoustic, and since then had yet to spend a day apart from Jack.

_We make each other stand taller_.

"What're you doing?" Yusei demanded to know after a moment of watching. Jack could not deign to look at him.

"What?" he muttered distractedly.

"Your damn phone. You playing something?"

"No."

"Then what're you doing?"

Jack laid the phone down on his chest, screen out of sight. "I told you."

"No, you didn't. You just stole my apple and bitched about me telling you to clean up."

The blonde shoved his foot in the direction of Yusei's face when he sat up, eyes glued to the screen again. "I'm just checking a text."

"For half an hour?"

Jack fell for the ruse, head snapping to look at the clock near the door. "Shit, has it been that long?"

Tan fingers deftly snatched up Jack's phone, but the blonde noticed the missing weight of the phone almost immediately. Yusei was barely able to retreat with the phone, Jack's hands suddenly grabbing for his smaller friend anywhere they could find purchase in the vain hopes of getting his phone back. Yusei shoved the blonde away when he crawled onto the bed with him, but with the pale teen's added height came extra weight, and he easily squished Yusei into his mattress. What the taller boy did not count on was Yusei actually dropping the phone in front of him before reaching back to tickle Jack's sides and succeeding in getting his friend to literally wiggle-worm himself off Yusei's smaller body. The threat of Jack gone momentarily, Yusei flipped over the phone and saw what had Jack so enthralled.

Not that Jack sensed his defeat with all that testosterone clouding his noggin. The minute his regained his breath he flopped back on to Yusei with extra vigor, only to notice that Yusei had extended his arm out over the floor to keep the phone out of reach, and was trying not to laugh too loudly.

Yusei barely noticed the painful thump of Jack's forehead against the back of his own skull as he sagged in defeat. "Not a word to anyone," Jack growled, although the threat was muffled in Yusei's raven hair.

"I can't believe you let Crow get you addicted to _Angry Birds_."

"Think of it less of an addiction and more as vengeance for getting him hooked on _Temple Run_."

"I dunno—I can sympathize with Crow. _Angry Birds_ at least has some physics applied to it—_Temple Run_ is just stupid."

Jack _tsked_. "So uncultured," he sighed, snatching the phone out of Yusei's hand and rolling onto his side, dragging his friend with him to lie along his front. Since Jack kept his phone hand out on the bed in front of him, Yusei got front row seats to his friend's game time. Not that he really cared to be. He was tired, and it did not help that he was lying down while being forced to watch an incredibly boring game. He glanced longingly at Jack's soda, but it was likely empty knowing the blonde. The guy drank like a horse. A huge, fucking horse, like the ones with lots of hair around their feet and their bangs constantly in their eyes.

Yusei sighed, "I don't care if you wanna play in here, Jack, but I gotta finish some things before Dad gets home."

"Uh-huh," answered his friend, not paying attention at all. Yusei groaned and moved to shove Jack's arms away, but the taller one clung to him even tighter and rolled forward so that Yusei would be trapped between him and the mattress—all the while playing the damn game!

"You can't muster the brainpower to do your school work but you can focus enough to play a game and wrestle me at the same time?"

_Click click click_. A red bird exploded on screen. "When they find a way to make math into a sport I'll do a good job. Until then, the world is just going to have to suck it and deal."

_Click click click_. "Get off, asshole."

"Nope." Jack's free hand slid up his friend's shirt and felt the hard muscles beneath the tan skin, lazily drawing circles around the curved muscles. His lips, soft and pliable like Yusei remembered, latched on to the side of his neck and gently sucked, nearly eliciting a whining moan from him. _Damn him, he always knows the right—_

Yusei hissed. "Jack…"

Jack only _hmmed_ in response, fingers teasing a nipple beneath his shirt but not going so far as to create physically noticeable arousal. Yusei decided to clench his teeth together and not give the larger teen the satisfaction, but like a harp Jack played him all too well, and abandoned his chest to massage the inside of Yusei's thigh. _That_ created reaction, all right.

_I suppose we have some time_—

_Click click click_.

The dark teen stopped when he heard the sound, eyes wide in irritation. _Oh, no, you fucking don't_.

Yusei flipped his head back and smacked Jack's jaw, the blonde's teeth clacking loudly together. "Let go."

"What?"

"Now, Jack."

The growl in Jack's throat could be felt reverberating down Yusei's spine. "Fine..."

"Damn right it's fine."

The blonde released Yusei and he rolled himself out of Jack's hold, ignoring the lingering touch of fingers along his sides. Jack had the gall to give him the sad, puppy-eyed expression that adorned many dating girls' faces when faced with not getting their way, but unlike the boyfriends forced to concede, Yusei did not have to submit. "If you're going to try that shit, at least have the decency to not be staring at your phone at the same time."

Jack gave him his signature eye roll. "You didn't say I couldn't play on my phone at the same time."

"Well, now you can't."

"What are you, a woman?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

"I'm not romancing you like we're in some chick flick, Yusei."

_Says the guy who likes to walk along the beach while holding hands. And have romantic dinners. And sit inside a hot tub with candles everywhere_… "Please. You're a bigger hopeless romantic than most of "chicks" we go to school with."

The dark teen got about five steps before a syrupy, "I _loooove_ you, Yusei," stopped him in his tracks and made him double take at the tall blonde lying on his back with his hands over his heart like he was struck by one of Cupid's arrows. For good measure, Jack batted his ridiculously long eyelashes. In his normal voice he said, "You know you want it," winking sly and grinning mischievously.

"Fuck you, dude."

Jack dropped his hands to the bed, his expression replaced with one of annoyance. "That's kinda difficult with you playing hard-to-get all the time."

"_I'll stop feeding you if you want_."

.o.

Despite Yusei slamming the door shut in his face, Jack still trailed down the hallway after him, albeit much more slowly. He did not look back to see if Jack was all right, instead making his way back downstairs and into the kitchen, where he set the oven to preheat and washed his hands at the sink. Jack was moving about in the other room, although at the moment it sounded like he was shuffling papers around.

Yusei was not mad. He was just…irritable. He had gotten held up at work thanks to a ridiculous customer who could not make up his mind for the life of him, and he had to stay after school with other classmates to finish a test due to someone having pulled the fire alarm as a prank and cutting almost half an hour into class time. Crow had also picked a fight with a couple guys larger than him over something stupid, and Yusei nearly lost some teeth trying to help defend him. And Kalin thought it would be funny to set fire to a trash can and almost caused an uncontrollable fire. And Jack had gotten detention, so he and Yusei could not work on their physics project during study hall, and it was due in two days. And his old acoustic finally died on him and lost three strings in one sitting…

_And Jack thinks we have the time right now to have our first go at each other_…

Overall, it had not turned out to be the best day of days, although he would not complain much, since there had been worse. _Kalin and Crow shop lifting from the music store…Jack jumping out the window and wrenching his ankle…Dad nearly blowing himself up at work_… It was just _really_ tiring having such obnoxious people for friends, sometimes. And a father who enjoyed the hell out of experimenting.

And it wasn't that he didn't want to have sex with Jack—he did—but he had been smart enough to read stuff online about that sort of thing, and knew that no good would come of trying to do it quickly for fear of someone walking in and spoiling the moment. _Especially Kalin…God, it'd tear him apart if he walked in on us_…

Pale arms wound around his waist and a familiar chin rested on his head, chest heaving with a sigh. Yusei did not look back, waiting for Jack to speak first. The silence resumed for a few minutes, Jack quiet except for the occasional sigh and Yusei noiselessly chopping the beef he had defrosted in the fridge earlier that day. At first the dark teen thought that Jack might just cling to him the entire time, which was unusual even by Jack's standards, but blessedly the blonde teen resumed his normal habits and picked his head up.

"Which rooms?" he sighed in defeat, voice purposefully little. He was likely making faces at his friend if history taught the shorter teen anything

Yusei tried not to sound like he was smiling as he spoke, gesturing around him with the knife. "Foyer, dining room, and the living room."

"Fine," he huffed, quietly stalking out of the kitchen. Yusei fought his hardest to keep his ridiculous grin down as Jack stomped about the house searching for the vacuum, and nearly exposed himself when Jack came back in. "Where's the vacuum, Yusei?"

"I dunno," Yusei snickered. He'd taken care to hide it well, that time. Jack heard it in his voice, and made a snarly face at him in mild frustration. "Where'd you last leave it?"

"Why do I get the feeling that I clean your house more often than you guys do?"

Yusei just chuckled evilly, resuming his slicing of the beef. "Be happy we don't charge you rent, too."

"You suck, Yusei."

"I suck nothing."

As Jack strode past again, Yusei tapped his ass with the flat of the blade, eking a less than masculine sound out of him. "Hop to it."

Jack hurriedly wiped the back of his pants. "Did that have raw meat on it?"

"Deal with it," Yusei commanded, tossing the knife in the sink and digging a large pot out from the cabinet. Jack continued to make disgusted sounds before scurrying away.

"That's fucking gross, Yusei!" he called.

"You're a good one to talk!" the dark teen called back.

As Yusei continued preparing the stew, the sound of Jack angrily storming through the house trying to find the vacuum became white noise for the house. He had stashed it in the basement behind their equipment, a place he knew Jack would not think to look for it in. Time had taught him that Jack was more manageable if he was slightly worn out, although his crankiness was more extreme thereafter, too. Thus, food was always in order so that he would sit down and shut his goddamn mouth. Of course, the downside to it was that Jack frequently got horny when he was frustrated, but less out of anger and more out of pure passion to not be stumped by Yusei. Again.

(Yes, Jack got horny while thinking about competing with Yusei. Winning was not important—Jack could win or lose, and he would still develop a raging boner. It was only if Yusei severely denied him even a few minutes to jerk him off that he would settle down.)

If Yusei successfully hid the vacuum from him, then Jack's obnoxious, horse-sized boner would give it a rest, Yusei would get the vacuum for his friend, and Jack would be silent for the rest of the night. It was starting to become rare that the blonde found the vacuum, Yusei having learned how to stay two steps ahead of him, now. A while back Jack demanded that he be rewarded if he found the damn thing because of the rarity of his finds, and Yusei conceded to the arrangement without a fuss. If Jack could never find the vacuum, what did he have to lose? Considering the odds, it had been a safe bet. The rules were that if Jack found the vacuum in under three minutes, he could shower with Yusei that night.

They had shared all of four showers in a three month period. And Jack was at the house almost every day.

_Sucker_.

"_What's my time?_" the blonde called from somewhere in the bowels of the house.

Yusei checked the wall clock. "One minute left."

"_Fuck!_" _Thump thump thump thump thump_.

The dark teen sighed and set the stove on high to boil the water, washing his hands thereafter before he started to touch the vegetables. As he prepared to dice, a phone rang somewhere in the house. Adjusting the temperature on the stove so the water did not boil over while he was away, Yusei wandered into the hall and towards the dining room where he left the phone of the table. A blonde blur whooshed past in the hall as he entered the room, and Yusei tried not to laugh at his friend's plight.

_Well, I can't say it's much of a plight._ He hit the green button on the phone and walked back to the kitchen. "Fudo residence."

"Yusei," greeted his father's voice.

"Hey, Dad," his son answered. "What's up?"

"Just wanted to let you know that I've stepped out and I'm on my way home. The crowds aren't looking bad tonight, so it should be about twenty minutes."

"Okay. I'd hurry, though. I'm making a stew pot, and the water's already set."

The baritone voice of his father chuckled good-naturedly. "You mean Jack will eat all of it if I'm not there soon?"

"Something like that."

"What were you two up to, today?"

"Not much. I got held up at work and school, so I got home late—"

"_Found it!_"

Yusei cringed at the sound even though it was not loud. Glancing at the clock, he saw that Jack had five seconds left. _Ugh, I could've sworn I hid that better_…

"Yusei?"

The teen sighed and addressed his father. "Sorry 'bout that. Jack was saying something."

"He found the vacuum?"

"Yep…"

Hakase was likely smiling on his end of the phone. Never mind that he saw Jack as his own son, he still found their relationship amusing as hell. "Where'd you hide it?"

"Behind the drums."

"And he actually found it?"

"I'm just as surprised as you."

Hakase laughed. "Well, the sooner it was found, the sooner cleaning would get done. I'll talk to you when I get back."

Yusei nodded to himself. "Later."

As he hung up Jack came back into the kitchen, vacuum clutched tightly in one hand. His cheeks were pink from running. "You sorry _son-of-a-bitch_," he panted.

Yusei snorted. "You're right; I am sorry. I could've sworn you were too blind to find it."

"Whatever," Jack gasped as he continued to breathe. He was more athletic than most, but stairs always seemed to get him. Neither really got why, but Jack had casually accepted his "disability" for stairs a while ago, so he likely did not care that he looked ragged. "Foyer, dining room, living room?" he confirmed.

"Yeah," the dark teen sighed in admission, staring glumly at the vacuum. _Seriously, how the hell did he find it?_

"What's your problem?"

"I didn't hide the fucking vacuum well enough, that's my problem."

The blonde rolled his eyes and trudged back out of the room to finish his chores. "You know, I really don't see how me jacking you off in the shower is much of losing situation for you."

Yusei wheeled about face and leaned his head out the kitchen door to glare at Jack, who easily felt the burning on his back and glanced back without needing to be called. "Yeah, FYI: Dad's coming home early tonight, so whatever shenanigans you're planning, _don't_."

The taller one quirked his head and smirked. "You mean like making you moan?"

Fire lit Yusei's skin and he burnt holes through Jack's empty skull with his eyes, staring him down with more rage than the old spirits. "_Be-have_," he ground out carefully.

"Oh, come on, Yusei. Your dad's cool with us anyways—"

"Foyer, dining room, living room, _hallway_. _Now._"

"Aw man…"

"Now, Jack!"

.o.

Hakase hummed to himself as he cleaned up the kitchen, wiping down the counters with a practiced hand and artfully arranging the used pots and plates in the dishwasher. As he picked up the dishes Yusei pulled out a new sheet of notebook paper, continuing his work on the new sheet. He had passed the algebra exams with beyond flying colors as a freshman, and after completing his math analysis class, he had been granted the permission to finally step up to calculus. The others, all taking simple geometry, had balked at the idea of studying with Yusei once they found out just how advanced some of the classes he was taking were.

You know, until they realized that Yusei magically knew everything and found it simpler to bug him for the answers.

A glance at the clock only served to mock him, the hands already farther ahead than he previously thought and the seconds ticking down loudly like they did on all the TV shows. Dinner had been at a decent time, but after Jack had finished he had run off again to the basement, and had yet to make an appearance. To stretch his legs Yusei would wander past and try to listen for any sounds, but nothing came from the eerily silent basement except the occasionally sound of the one creaky office chair Hakase had donated to them after it annoyed too many people at work.

_And now it serves to annoy us_.

He had contemplated marching down there and dragging Jack up the stairs by his ear, but the lack of sound from the basement worried him just a bit. Okay, he was not actually worried. He stopped worrying about the weird shit Jack got up to _long_ ago. He was just fucking creeped out.

Sighing to himself for what could have conceivably been the millionth time that day, Yusei pulled his physics binder free of his messenger back and got to sorting through what needed to be done. It was only a preliminary project—the mathematics portion of what would later become a physical project that he and Jack would have to complete. From the looks of it, the worksheet seemed to be more about understanding how to find the answers they would later need to get in the actual project itself, the page listing off a number of scenarios with limited information about each one and the required answers. The sheet was front and back, and there were at least ten questions on each side that would all take serious contemplation to finish, and if history taught him anything about his teacher, some experimentation with the rules.

Applying physics and having an understanding of it was definitely cool, and Yusei loved being able to understand how the world around him worked, from cars on wet roads to dropping severely breakable items like eggs at great heights. (Hey, he's guy.) But like everything in life, this fun had to be counterbalanced with something of an opposing force. Yin did not exist without Yang, and it was starting to feel like one of those days where life was determined to demonstrate that philosophy.

_I am so not letting Jack help with the fun part of the project_…

"—is she hot?" came Jack's voice as he suddenly walked into the room, cellphone to his ear. Yusei almost jumped and shot a glare in his direction, but the blonde completely missed it. _What the hell is with this guy?_ Seriously, they had a project to finish and he was chatting on the phone? _At least if he were doing something productive_…

"Does the phrase "physics project" mean _anything_ to you?"

"Shut up for second," Jack shot back as he shoved Yusei's head, settling on loveseat behind him with his legs on either side of him, the dark teen sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table. Yusei considered the consequences for stabbing Jack in the foot with a pencil, and found that he did not care about any of them. "Where'd the hell you meet her?"

"What? Did the lack of cell phone coverage finally get to you or something?"

Jack rolled his eyes and leaned forward onto Yusei's back, watching over his shoulder at what he was doing. Or something. Yusei was really starting to consider the foot stabbing, and it would be on Jack's bad foot, too… "You pick up girls in the weirdest places, dude," Jack said into the phone, right by Yusei's ear. _Asshole_…

"So," Yusei mumbled, "how were the cockroaches? They'd build their nest again?"

The blonde physically froze for a second in clearly panic-gripping fear, before leaning his head to look Yusei in the eye with a "You're joking, right?" face.

_You better be afraid, bitch_. Yusei shoved the teen back with his shoulder and Jack resumed sitting upright, although felt it necessary to leave his legs pinned tightly against the raven while long fingers absently stroked up and down between his shoulder blades. If it had not felt so nice, Yusei figured he would have had the strength to throw the hand off. Unfortunately, all he could picture for a moment was the sight of those fingers sliding up and down neck of Jack's electric guitar named Phoenix, pressing the strings on the fingerboard with all the skills of an experienced lover. _Not the time!_ Quickly, he said, "Jack's playing _Angry Birds_…"

"_Yusei_," Jack groaned irritably. "What? No, you're not interrupting anything."

"Don't believe him," the dark teen called over his shoulder at the phone, uncaring of who was on the other end of the line. It was likely Crow, since Kalin had yet to date a girl for all the flirting he did. Girls liked bad boys like him and Jack, but they had yet to be appreciative of the new levels Kalin took to the term "bad". Jack's occasional disregard for the rules and douche-bag level confidence brought in a larger crowd than someone who liked to start out of control fires and then leave them for others to handle. _And you'd think that as the bassist Kalin would get all the girls_…

Jack shoved the back of Yusei's head again in response as he continued to waste time, fingers sliding down through his raven hair and onto the nape of his neck where they massaged the muscles. It hurt for second, and then Yusei realized it was because he was so tense. "That was just Yusei."

_And guess what Yusei wants to know? He wants to know why you're the one giving Crow talks about dating girls_. It would not have been the first time.

Pale fingers continued to knead at his shoulder, distractingly painful but welcome enough that Yusei took a deep breath and paused from his work to let Jack try and coax the knots out of his muscles. The longer the massaging went on Yusei started to grasp that Jack was likely buttering him up so he would not be so upset about the physics thing. The funny thing with Jack was that you could never tell when he was listening to what you were saying. "You're an asshole," the dark teen drawled, leaning back against Jack's legs for a moment.

Jack laughed at the reaction. "What? Sorry, Yusei was complaining again. No, no, he's fine. He just gets cranky when he forgets to take his estrogen pills. I'm kidding—_I'm kidding!_" The blonde barely managed to hold onto his phone as Yusei started to beat him with a seat cushion, forgoing the pillows altogether. It was not difficult to channel any and all irritation he had into his hits, massage or not.

"Fuck you!' The moment he stopped he stopped his assault he launched himself across Jack and snatched the phone from his hand, fervently exclaiming, "Jack likes _Angry Birds_!"

"Yusei!" Jack stole back his phone and promptly shoved Yusei down on the couch, crushing him once again with his body. He addressed his phone quickly. "Don't listen to him."

"Jack," Yusei gasped out, turning the best he could to glare up at the blonde. "What the hell do you know about dating girls?"

"What, seriously? That's what you're getting on my case about?"

"No, I wanna punch you for not helping me with our project! And answer my question."

"I know enough."

"You're as straight as a circle."

"And? Gay men have proven to be exceptional at making women happy. Emotionally, anyways."

"Yeah," Yusei snorted, "until they find out _they're gay!_"

"I'm only gay for you, so shut up," Jack growled, continuing to shove Yusei down on the couch while struggling at the same time to keep his hold on his phone and answer Crow. "I'm still here. Where're you meeting up with her?" A pause. "Nice!"

Yusei tried not to get couch fibers in his mouth as he spoke. "Don't you think that maybe Crow should talk to my dad, instead?"

"No, that was still Yusei. He won't freaking _shut up_." Another pause. "So what're you gonna do afterwards?" A longer pause. "Really? Come on, dude. You got do more than that. A date's supposed to be fun."

"Jack," Yusei growled. He knew exactly where Jack's stream of consciousness was going, and if Crow followed anything the blonde said, he would royally screw himself over on this date. Unfortunately, he was refusing to see logic. "_Jack!_ Most people aren't like us. You can't tell him to put moves on her on the first date!"

Jack squished him even harder, enough to the point that Yusei heard himself groan in pain. What the hell was his problem? _You fucking asshole!_ The rat bastard was two seconds away from sleeping outside—

"Agh!" Someone pulled on Jack's ear, and his painful weight lifted off of Yusei's neck. "Crow? Sorry to interrupt. It's Hakase."

Somehow Yusei's father had managed to slip Jack's phone from his hand and was already walking away with it, Jack frozen in shock at the quick maneuver and not entirely sure how to react. Yusei did, though, and promptly bit the blonde's arm.

"Ow! Yusei!"

"That's for crushing my neck, asshole!"

"I didn't know!"

"How the hell could you not tell? You were practically sitting on it!"

"Then why didn't you say something?"

"Gee, I dunno, because I was groaning in pain at the time? What, do I need a fucking sign that says "Ow. I am in pain, Jack"?"

"I didn't hear you!"

"But you heard Crow ramble on about a girl?"

"Why does that _bother_ you? For God's sake, you were the one encouraging him to get out more."

"I know what I said! And do you know what else I've said recently? _We have a project!_"

"_Boys!_"

Hakase was not a very loud man by nature, and whenever he shouted Yusei swore chills ran down his spine and goose bumps crawled across his skin. The times when Hakase got truly mad were equally rare, and by some saving grace this was not to be one of those moments in history that Yusei would regret. But he was visibly disappointed in both boys nonetheless, and held Jack's phone to his chest to cover the speaker. Hakase did not have to look between either teen to make sure they got the idea—like a hawk he stared them both down at once. "You two are almost adults. I'd think that you'd know by now not to start a screaming match at nine o'clock at night when the people on either side of us are trying to sleep."

Jack's gulp was more than visible, it was audible. Yusei spared a brief glance in his direction during the silence, and noticed the subtle curling of his fingers by his side while he looked to Hakase with guilt. The guy was an actor whether or not he would admit it, and rarely did the emotion in Jack's eyes reflect what he was actually feeling. Even now, in the face of disappointing a man he saw very much like a father, he did not demonstrate the same heart crushing fear he felt inside, given away by his nervous habit. It was yet another thing about Jack that Yusei had yet to understand, and figured he never would.

"Do not make me sort this out for you," Hakase warned softly before disappearing into the kitchen, that time sliding the door shut. Yusei would like to say that it was an empty threat, as his father had threatened before, but because he and his friends always worked out their problems, he never discovered what might happen if he did.

And a part of him never wanted to.

Jack regarded Yusei again, reaching out to touch his arm as he neared. "I'm sorry for hurting your neck—"

Yusei pulled away from the touch, irritability clawing at his nerves with a steel rake. "No, just—stop." Jack backed off instantly at the level voice, but to Yusei's secret relief did not twitch his fingers like he was playing piano against his thigh. "What were you doing?"

"What?"

"I said, _what were you doing?_ Why the hell weren't you up here helping me?"

He did not look like he wanted to answer. "I was busy."

"Busy with what?" Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Yusei cut him off again, voice still level. "No, I don't want to hear it. Show me."

He did not wait for Jack to get his act together and brushed past without another word, stalking across the room and into the hallway until he reached the basement door. Jack trailed behind him slowly, like he had earlier, face oddly blank but for the nervous look in his eyes. Yusei threw the door open and stalked down the stairs in the dark, his muscle memory able to lead him about the room without the use of a light. When he reached the bottom he waited for Jack to finish descending the stairs before beginning to scan the black room, the blonde silently flipping the switch to the basement on and illuminating the sanctuary in a candle-dim light.

That was when Yusei saw it, the project Jack had been working while Yusei fumed upstairs. He found his heart stop briefly in surprise before a weight seemed to collapse on him completely and snuff out any remaining capacity for emotion, like a small candle in winter. Wordlessly, he stared at the equipment he and the others kept in the corner of the room, eyes zeroed in on his guitar stand.

Jack had fixed his guitar.

Gravity was determined to shove Yusei down onto his knees, or perhaps his legs were simply too weak to hold him up, but he fought the urge to collapse in a heap on the floor. Wordlessly the blonde approached him from behind and rested his chin on Yusei's head while his hands slid into the pockets on the front of the smaller teen's pants, like no strife had passed between either of them just a minute ago. Yusei stared at the fixed instrument, and like always his guitar stared back with its equally soulful gaze, much like it had when he first passed it outside a window for a thrift store. He had tried to walk away from it, he really had, but the old soul called him back to the window as easily as his father's voice called him down the stairs. Most guitars were pretty expensive, acoustic or not, and walking into the store Yusei remembered fear gripping his ten-year-old gut with a firm hand. The old lady at the counter told him the price, still way beyond what he had to pay for it. Had he been raised differently he might have tried to haggle for it, but he refused to pay less than full price for the guitar, regardless of its age. She accepted what money he had with him then and they worked out an arrangement for him to work at her shop until the guitar had been paid for in full.

His decision had shocked his father. Yusei had never looked so driven before, and Hakase admitted to be a bit worried by it at first. He offered to pay for the rest, if only to assuage the fire that had grown inside his little boy, but Yusei rejected the help and said only he would pay for it. Two months later he walked from the store, guitar in hand, to his waiting father outside. At first Hakase seemed nervous that the guitar would only grow out of control, but for the first time in his life Yusei felt a calm he had never experienced before, a sprinkling of snow on autumn grass that brought with it the cooling airs of sleeping winter. _It's going to be okay_, the nameless soul of his guitar whispered to the little boy. And Yusei believed it.

It was not long after that Hakase told him to go play whenever his child's temper got out of hand, a while later Yusei returning back upstairs to his father and apologizing for his outburst, and then the two of them going outside to kick a ball around or settling down for a board game. Years later his frosty white and silver guitar would no longer be lonely in the basement, waiting for Yusei to return home to keep it company, and would be joined by a whole pack of instruments. Jack's deep red acoustic with dark edges quickly became its mate, the fearsome color keeping guard over the softer white acoustic. Kalin and Crow's instruments came together not long after, and soon the basement became a haven for both the boys and their instruments.

After a month of the group trying to put together songs, Crow demanded that everything have a name, saying that the guitars and drums were as much a part of team as the owners. Jack's acoustic took the name Archfiend and his electric Phoenix, and Kalin's black and silver electric bass became Infernity. Crow had no guitar for a while, not interested in learning until he walked in on Yusei by himself one day (on his balcony with nothing on but a pair of blue jeans) and became decidedly smitten with the sound. He got himself a black acoustic, which he later had spruced up with some white wings on the front (courtesy of Kalin), and stickers on the back. The stickers had not been his idea, his foster siblings having stumbled upon the helpless thing and given it their stamp of approval. When Crow first found out, Yusei thought it would burst into tears because of what happened to it. And he did, but he so with pride, happy to have something to remember his foster siblings by. To a child with parents, it might have been annoying, but to a boy being bounced around to different families, it meant the world to him. Baby Black Wings joined the family soon, siblings to the drum set Black Swarm.

Yusei wanted to get an electric himself, but was saving up money from working at the Poppo Time garage until he could. His father did not offer again to pay for the instrument, knowing how much it meant to Yusei to earn the guitar himself. When Jack was gone he would get some time in with Phoenix to test the feel of using something sleeker and louder, but with Jack hovering over him almost every waking moment it was difficult to sneak off and use it. He often wished Kalin had a normal electric, as he would not mind Yusei using it while he was away. Jack claimed to be okay with such things, but this was a complete and total lie. He was like a shiba inu sometimes. Those dogs operated on the basis of: "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine."

Taking a steadying breath, Yusei crept up to Stardust like he could not believe his old friend was sitting before him. Jack's arms fell free and he let his friend walk forward, lingering behind like a stranger intruding upon a private moment. With what he could only describe as an empty heart he picked up Stardust by the neck and held it close, examining the fresh strings in place of the broken ones. Yusei had never had to replace strings before, and was at a loss when they snapped. Jack had not mentioned his skills in repairing guitars _ever_, and like every other time Yusei learned something new about him, he was mildly (if not greatly) shocked.

Stardust practically burned his skin, as if sensing the loss of feeling in Yusei's stressed mind. _Not now, Yusei_, it seemed to say. _Not now_.

"I remembered you saying earlier that the strings had broken," Jack said quietly. "Paying someone to fix them isn't cheap, and I'm talking from experience. It's better to learn how to do it yourself." Probably feeling like what he said was an insult, he quickly added, "I'll teach you how to do it."

"I only told you this morning," Yusei mumbled, unable to draw any great breath at the moment as he set Stardust down. _He actually listened_… "Jack, we have a project to finish. Why'd you decide to work on it now of all times?"

Yusei held no ire in his voice, but Jack still sensed the underlying anger from before. Taking the heat like he knew he deserved it, he shrugged at Yusei. "Because I know you, and I know Star." He looked as if it were the answer to everything. "You're one in the same. When one breaks, so does the other."

"Jack—"

"I knew that the sooner I fixed Star, the less time you'd spend being worried." He smirked, a devious yet knowing look on his face. "You're annoying enough when the house is messy. I didn't wanna have to deal with this, too."

_Not now. Just…not now_.

Another time he might have smiled at the comment, or at the very least punch Jack in the arm for saying it, but like the inside of Stardust, he felt hollow. Jack lessened his grin, although seemingly for Yusei's sake and less from sadness. Yusei met his gaze, silent and pushed a little farther than he cared to have been that day, and left the basement.

.o.

The warm water of the shower fell down and slithered over his shoulders, splashing loudly as it hit the bottom. His head felt heavy, his once spiked hair having completely fallen from its usually height and now thick as it clung to his neck with the water. He ran his fingers through the tangled locks and pulled one out to the side, noting the gold streaks he had gotten done a while back. They were starting to fade some, and he would have to get them redone soon.

The heat and steam swirled in the enclosed shower, the mist curling up from the floor like a hot spring and its tendrils wrapping around Yusei's naked form. It was almost consuming, the heat, and his lungs were starting to reject the extremely warm air. With a heaving sigh he shut the shower off and sunk to the floor, knees pulled up to his chest while he rested his head against the cool tile wall. With the lack of running water he could hear the sounds of people walking around the upstairs floor, the heavier, careless thuds of Jack stomping around like a freaking elephant and the gentler, calm steps of his father. At some point he could even hear the two of them talking, their distinct voices distorted by distance and walls. Once they finished, Jack thumped his way back downstairs and Hakase lingered upstairs.

Sighing, he laid his head across his forearms and closed his eyes, breathing deeply for a moment when someone knocked on the door, startling him.

"Yusei?" Came Hakase's voice. "You all right?"

"What? Yeah," Yusei answered, his eyelids strangely heavy but his heart still pounding with surprise. "What time is it?"

"Almost ten-thirty. Did you fall asleep? I heard the water stop running a while ago."

"Uh…"

"I'll take that as a yes. Do you need help?"

"No, I'm fine," Yusei said, pushing back the door to the shower and letting the cold air rush in. Goose bumps prickled on his skin at the sensation and he shuddered briefly before rising and leaning out to grab his towel. "It's okay, Dad. I'm just tired."

"Alright. I have to get up early tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. Jack's still up."

"Okay. Night, Dad."

"Good night, Yusei."

Hakase's footsteps disappeared and shortly after a door clicked shut. Yusei could not hear Jack moving about, but the blonde may have finally settled down. Stepping onto the cold tile floor he winced and darted for the throw rug in front of the sink to save his feet from freezing. The air was noticeably cooler now and any mist that might have collected on the mirror had dissipated completely. There was no clock in the bathroom and Yusei wasn't one to wear a watch, but his father's suspicions were confirmed now that he gathered his surroundings,

_God…was I that tired?_

The painful squeezing in his heart had fallen flat, leaving his chest feeling strangely hollow but relaxed. He had not noticed his pounding headache until he entered the shower, but his impromptu nap had cleared the pain and allowed him to think with a clearer mind.

Of course, his first thought was that it was cold.

Shivering minutely, he rubbed the water from his skin vigorously until he started working up a sweat just by drying. His hair was a bit dryer by but still clumped together in wet locks that touched his shoulders, and in need of combing lest it become a mess in the morning. Giving a final shudder from the cold he hung his towel up on a hook and went to put his pajamas on when he realized that they were nowhere to be found, just his clothes from that day.

_Why aren't they—oh, right_.

He had not stopped to grab on his storm to the bathroom, his stressed mind having scrambled his priorities and forced him somewhere where he would not be bothered. Not desiring to walk down the hall of his house naked (although lord knows that Jack did it as often as he liked) he threw the rest of his clothes into the laundry shoot and pulled his jeans back on over his hips, the denim clinging slightly to his damp skin and sticking a little. Tucking his bangs back behind an ear he quickly washed his face to prevent acne from giving him an unexpected surprise in the morning and brushed his teeth, noting that Jack's toothbrush was in the bathroom and that he likely needed it. Normally Yusei being in the bathroom, regardless of what he doing (and Jack had walked in on a few embarrassing occasions only to say he was mad Yusei did not invite him to the "show"), and did what he needed to in order to get ready for bed or for school.

_But he didn't_, Yusei thought.

Heart fluttering momentarily, he knew that he would have brave the rest of the house if he wanted to get some sleep. Taking a steadying breath he hoped he would not need, he opened the door and felt the warmer air of the house rush in at him all at once before suddenly dying with the newly achieve equilibrium. The lights were off except for a soft glow from downstairs and the bathroom itself. Not hearing any sounds coming from his room Yusei wandered down the hall and thumped down the stairs into the kitchen, where the light was coming from. Nothing jumped out at him and he drifted into the living room thereafter, noting that his things had been picked up and put back in his bag. A darkness he did not foresee briefly descended on his mind and he warily pulled his binder back from his messenger bag to check that he still had the physics assignment sheet. He did.

If it had been any darker downstairs he might have missed it, but he gasped when he saw that it had been written on, Jack's handwriting scribbled on the top of sheet spelling "Yusei Fudo and Jack Atlas" in the name box. With racing eyes he looked down the page and saw five completed questions, work included. The heat of his frustration swept itself away and he collapsed on the couch, disbelieving that any work had been done at all. It did not matter that Jack had picked the easiest ones—he was not the greatest at math and Yusei did not mind doing the harder work if it meant it would be done right. Shuffling the papers back in his binder and stuffing the thing back in his bag, he made for the basement only to see that the light was off downstairs and not a sound to be heard.

_Maybe he went to bed, after all… _

Not sure if what he was feeling was mild disappointment or simply anticlimactic, he shut the basement door and turned off the lights downstairs, checking briefly that the front door was locked and the windows shut. In the countryside an unlocked door would not have mattered as thievery was severely cracked down on, but Yusei knew far better than to assume that would be the same case in the city.

Jack's ridiculous stomping could be briefly heard on the upstairs floor and Yusei inched his way up the stairs, vaguely unsure if Jack was feeling different after Yusei blew him off despite him fixing Stardust. Jack could stay mad for a long time if he so desired, and had a few times throughout their friendship. He could not remember the last severe thing they argued about, but it had caused Jack to vanish for a few days—both from school and home—and Jack's guardian just about sent the police out after him when Yusei woke up to the blonde slipping into his bed with him. Jack had not apologized for his outburst, but the way he clung to Yusei and buried his face into his neck told him enough, and the two went back to being friends the next day. With their relationship, apologizing could be done a few different ways to demonstrate what they meant, but with Kalin and Crow it had to be handled differently, and even that nearly led to Crow leaving for good when Jack refused to discuss things or offer his apologies for his, well, bitchiness.

The blonde could not be seen in the hall and the bathroom light was now off, the sounds of a sleepless city could be heard whispering through his cracked bedroom door. Pushing the door open, he spotted Jack sitting on the balcony with Archfiend in hand, gently strumming to nothing in particular. Since there was only one chair Jack had pulled Yusei's desk chair onto the small balcony with him, Stardust propped against the railing and watching the pair considerately.

Jack let the notes fade and looked through the dark at a concealed Yusei, grinning wickedly like he did whenever it was just the two of them. "So, you done throwing a fit?"

Yusei drew forward, desperately resisting the urge to slug Jack when _he_ was the big baby of the group. The closer he got, though, it became a greater struggle simply not to start grinning devilishly himself. Jack definitely brought the wicked side of him forward. "I am," Yusei admitted without a hint of repentance. "But how long until you start throwing a fit for me not holding up the bet?"

Oh, yes, Jack did not forget that he did not get his shower. "About that. You're getting up early with me. I don't care if you're still asleep. I will haul your ass out of bed and carry you over my shoulder if I have to."

His threat was a common one, and one that Yusei had no doubts he would act on. Of course, the last time it was because they would be late for the train to get to school, but since the bathroom was just a few yards down the hall Jack would more than likely make it the most humiliating experience of Yusei's life. Self-conscious for a moment, Yusei considered going back inside for a belt to his pants.

"Or you could just wake me up like any normal human being. I wouldn't object to that."

"I know," Jack smirked. "But where's the fun in that?"

Yusei stepped onto the balcony and towards the railing, enjoying the wind that blew past the house carrying the smell of early autumn with it. The sun had yet to settle completely, and along the horizon fringes of deep blue and green could be seen gripping the edges of the earth. Yusei normally did not stay up so late to see the sunset, and he took the opportunity to enjoy it for once. Jack settled back in his seat and returned to strumming, faint but familiar notes from his favorite English songs sifting through the air. Jack, while a Japanese citizen, was American born, adopted when he was nine by Rex Godwin during one of his many trips to the United States. Like a lot of younger kids, he was able to learn Japanese relatively quickly and adapt to Japanese customs, unbothered by the fact he was in a foreign country. He never described what the orphanage was like, and Yusei never asked, but according to Godwin, leaving it had done wonders for him.

He had been offered the chance to change his American name into a Japanese one, but for whatever reason had begged Godwin to keep his original name. It made for a unique situation, as Jack was the only kid at school whose name was written in Katakana, as well as the only natural blonde. A few boys had been inspired by his appearance to try and achieve a more western look, bleaching their hair and dyeing it blonde, but it did not look nearly as good on them as it did a Caucasian. As a result of growing up partially in America, Jack still retained his interest in western music and songs sung in English. He had some other music on his iPod that was not English but German, Spanish, and Russian. He admitted that he did not understand anything outside of the English, but growing up in a country where diversity was a way of life, he did not feel the same restrictions a lot of other eastern born people did and had a wide appreciation for things that were different. He even had some Korean songs, although those he kept at home and did not share at school, well aware of the reaction he would get. There were days when his western heritage created some conflict at school, and while he still paraded around trying to come off as an American teenager, he knew when to hide, too.

"…when your dreams all fail, and the ones we hailed are the worst of all, and the bloods run stale…" Jack muttered to himself, the song equally slow and quiet like his voice. Yusei listened, understanding only some of the words but recognizing that it was English.

"I haven't heard that one before," he said, nodding his head at Archfiend when Jack looked up. Yusei had made it a goal to learn some of Jack's favorite western songs to explore new genres and types, and had even mastered the lyrics for one in time for White Day. His performance had not been the best, but Jack had loved it so much he practically jumped on him in order to hug him in thanks.

"It's called "Demons"," Jack said. "It's from an indie group called Imagine Dragons."

Yusei wracked his brain briefly for the definition of indie, remembering that Jack had once explained it to him. "That's a group that does their own thing, right?"

"Kinda. They aren't into mainstream stuff, so they're not as well known as other people."

"Like Justin Bieber?" People knew that name _everywhere_.

Jack shuddered at the mention of the name. "Yeah…"

Yusei laughed at his exaggerated abhorrence, Jack joining in shortly after. As their laughter died Jack motioned to Stardust, telling him to test it. "I know I did it right, but you need to tune it again since you have new strings."

He picked up Stardust carefully and moved to sit beside his friend, noting Jack's appreciative glance at the low riding jeans and the dark curl of hair that peeked up just above the top of his pants. Jack liked things like that, though he never shared why. Yusei accepted it as a Jack thing and let it be, content to be appreciated for what he had.

He sat down and settled Stardust across his lap, fingers sliding up and down the fingerboard as he tested the sound. Some of the strings played a bit softer than others, and he adjusted the tuners until the strings hummed to an equal tone. As soon as Stardust was back up to speed he played some more, moving from one note to the next without care of what things were sounding like. He fell into a rhythm, and Jack smiled to himself, lazily strumming a back-up to Yusei's song and matching the tempo easily. It never took them long to find a good beat with each other, not even when they were first getting used to the idea of them playing together. Something just clicked. It was this connection to his fellow musician that drew Yusei in the most, the insane ease in which they could sync up and put something amazing together.

_Geez, I sound like we're making a baby together_. Of course, knowing Jack, if the blonde somehow got Yusei pregnant (regardless of the impossibility of it) he would likely die from sheer happiness. And Yusei did not put it past him to pray for conception every time they had sex. Not that they had gotten around to their first time, but the two of them were so easily aroused by the other that it was only a matter of time. And not much, if that.

Yawning, Jack stopped playing and stretched his long arms. As the myth went, the contagious yawn carried over to Yusei too and he yawned loudly himself, covering his mouth with his hand. Wordlessly, the two went back inside, the raven noting the late hour on his clock while Jack dragged the office chair back in the room. Yusei kept no guitar stands in his room, so Archfiend and Stardust were propped up against Yusei's closet door for the night. Jack wandered off to brush his teeth and use the bathroom while Yusei grabbed a second pillow for his bed for Jack to use, stripping from his jeans once the bed was set and crawling beneath the covers.

His bed actually contained a pull-out beneath it, but it rarely saw use. It had been Hakase's idea so that Jack could stay in the same room and not the distant guest room, but with the strange relationship between them it did not last long. Jack used it only once before deciding he liked Yusei's bed more, and the raven had not been able to get him out since. The pull-out was now Crow's for whenever he slept over, although this too was rare due to the three foster siblings back home that Crow looked after. Of all the boys, he went home the earliest and stayed over the least, but unlike Kalin or Jack, he never complained about having work to tend to back home. He loved his foster siblings more than most blood related families liked each other, and Yusei respected him for it. He was an only child, his mother having passed when he was little, and so he never got the chance to have a younger sibling.

Kalin tried sleeping on the pull-out bed once, but he hated it and asked that he be allowed to sleep in the guest room. Neither Fudo had an issue with it, and it allowed Jack to sleep in Yusei's bed without Kalin seeing, but it still made Yusei crumble inside all the same. The one time Kalin spent the night in his room had been a restless one, the poor boy waking up screaming in the night more times than the raven could count. Yusei held him afterwards and forced him to stay awake for at least an hour, unable to listen to the whimpering and crying anymore. Kalin broke down into tears because of it and cried that he was grateful for friends like Yusei, but since that night stayed in the guest room, several walls blocking the chance of him being heard. _God, Kalin_…

"Think any harder and your brain's going to spontaneously combust."

"Spell _spontaneously_."

"Fuck off," Jack grumbled, shoving Yusei over farther before sitting on the bed to take off his clothes, the garments landing in a heap somewhere in the dark. The blonde's long legs tangled themselves within Yusei's and Jack curled around the smaller boy, the raven's back to him but their faces pressed closed together.

The moon shone through the window, Yusei having forgotten to close the curtains earlier, and cast a glow on Stardust. It was not that Yusei could see this with his back to the guitar, but he could spot the small freckles on the wall, remnants of the moon's light reflecting off the silver pieces of Stardust's body. The white paint was chipped in some places but still relatively whole, but it was impossible to tell what the silver used to form. Kalin had offered to give Stardust a new coat of paint to hide the bare wood beneath, or at the very least turn the silver speckles back into something recognizable, but Yusei declined on both counts. Stardust gained its name that day because of it, the remaining silver like dust along the supple form of the guitar.

Yusei was not the only one to see the glittering, Jack smirking and rolling his head up some to see what his friend was so fixed on. "It's saying goodnight," he said quietly, a smile on his face. Archfiend was a very outstanding guitar, meant for places where the light could truly bring to light the rich color of the wood. Stardust, the oldest of the guitars in their group, had likely seen a lot of sun during its time. But now that it had aged and experienced, the adolescent mentality of it had vanished, leaving a silent guardian that watched over its fledging group of instruments by night.

_Such an amazing guitar,_ Yusei thought. _Guy_ _behind me's not so bad, either_…

"Hey, Jack?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks."

A smile. Jack's arms tightened around his body, and he nodded despite burying his face in Yusei's hair. "You're welcome, Yusei."

.o.

**So Jack's not actually a bad boy, but I could totally see him swishing his hips to a song like this in Yusei's bedroom trying to be a tease. Or to piss him off. Jack doesn't really have a whole lot of goals in life outside of those two things. (And devouring the Fudo fridge). If you can't see Jack doing this, then…well, you just can't see it. XD**

**At first I thought the ending should be something mind changing or philosophical, but the more I thought about it, I understood that real people aren't like that. And close friends are different in their interactions with each other than strangers. For these two, little reminders that they love each are what they thrive on, not insane gratitude.**

**Chapter one down—now chapter two! XD**


	2. Carry On My Wayward Son

**I have nothing profound to say before the start of this chapter.**

Track Two: Carry On My Wayward Son

"Carry on my wayward son, there'll be peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest, don't you cry no more."

~ Kansas

.o.

Crow thumped his forehead against the table about five times before Kalin grabbed his hair and held him still, the small boy going limp and letting Kalin lower his head carefully to the table before letting go. Yusei shared a look with the white haired bassist before gently prodding Crow's head with the end of a chopstick, eliciting no discernable reaction. When it seemed that their friend would not move again, Kalin sighed loudly and pulled Crow's body up by the back of his shirt, head lolling about like he was a doll—or dead.

"Think he'll say something if I yank him out of his seat?" Kalin asked dryly, looking at Crow like he was something he found under his shoe. Yusei just shook his head and took a bite of his lunch, used to Kalin's comments.

"Don't," he warned. "Just put him down." Kalin groaned but complied, lowering Crow back down carefully so he did not hurt him before taking a noisy bite out of his orange and leaning back in his chair.

"Throwing temper tantrums at sixteen. Real sexy, Crow." Without looking up Crow batted his hand in Kalin's direction, who looked surprised to see the reaction and jumped out of his reach.

"Yeah, 'cause you're real mature yourself," Yusei said, earning a familiar, sour look. He prodded Crow again. "Come on, sit up. Eat your food."

"I think he's been living with little kids too long," Kalin smirked. Yusei kicked his shin from under the table.

Crow moaned in exaggerated pain as he sat up, throwing himself back into his seat like a little kid. Yusei reached across the table and popped open his thermos for him, nudging the soup in his direction. By the smell of it, it was the special dumpling soup Crow had mastered as a treat for his foster siblings. With parents that were always busy working, Crow learned to cook so that it might still seem like the kids were having their mother's cooking. That, and because he did not want the kids growing pudgy from eating take out all the time. One of them was on the verge, already.

The orange haired drummer continued to slump in his seat, head tilted back to stare at the ceiling. Kalin took an appreciative glance at the soup but was swatted away by Yusei, who tossed him one of the sushi rolls he packed to keep him complacent. "Down, boy. Come on, Crow. What's going on?"

A head shake.

"You can't tell me?"

Another head shake.

"You _won't_ tell me?"

A third shake.

"You're praying that I learn how to read minds so that you stop killing your neck?"

A very vivid head shake. Kalin rolled his eyes. "I think I'm starting to see why he's getting poor grades in language."

"Shut up and eat. Crow, I'm not a psychologist. I can't interpret the sounds of your brain rolling around in your skull."

"Thank God for that," Crow mumbled. Yusei tried not to feel triumphant about it.

"What's wrong?"

Sighing, Crow sat up in his seat, not meeting Yusei's gaze as he leaned forward and found his book bag by his feet. Kalin leaned over to watch and stared blankly at whatever Crow was fishing around for in his bag before moving back so Crow did not see. Wordlessly, Crow handed over a stack of papers stapled together, the papers face down so that he did not see the top. Understanding that they were supposed to be viewed with discretion, Yusei carefully turned over the stack and lightly curled the edges so that it was less noticeable.

It was a geometry test, a large 49% scribbled in red at the top.

Yusei looked up at his friend, suddenly realizing the situation. _Two weeks of studying_… "Crow…"

Kalin looked back and forth between the two of them, irritable about missing out on the connection. "What the hell is going on?"

Yusei passed back the paper and kept it so that Kalin did not see the score, but before it was safely in Crow's hands he snatched it up and held it up so he could read the front. Yusei hissed, "_Kalin_," at him, but Crow waved him off.

"Let him see it," he sighed.

"I don't get what's the big deal," Kalin said, flipping through the test and back again. He gave his friends an odd look. "It's not like you're gonna fail the whole semester."

"Of course you don't care," Crow snapped, taking back his test with a firm tug. Kalin frowned at the treatment. "All you care about is art class."

"Because I'd like to do something with it. And I'd suggest you find something like that as well and spare yourself wasted time," Kalin growled back, glaring at Crow like he did not see the bigger picture. "Why do you care so much about getting good grades? You said you didn't want to go to college. Why the hell are you stressing yourself out over something that won't matter in a few years?"

Kalin honestly meant what he said, and Yusei felt bad for the two watching them argue. Kalin and Crow had similar financial situations as opposed to Yusei, who was a single child with a successful father, and Jack, whose guardian ran a company on top of being a top-rate scientist. The two hung out together a lot when they were not with him or Jack, and had a unique bond that neither Jack nor Yusei could match. Kalin admitted to him once that he was afraid about what would happen after school, not because he thought he might not make it but because he feared that Crow might leave. It hurt to think that Kalin believe he and Jack would take off the moment high school was over, but to see him so shook up about Crow possibly leaving him behind hurt more. Yusei never brought it up with Crow because Kalin begged him not to mention it, but it was difficult to watch Kalin face the argument alone, knowing that Crow would likely never understand why Kalin wanted him to slack off.

"Maybe my priorities have changed," Crow said softly, but eyes narrowed in irritation. "Maybe I want the _option_ of having a chance at something more."

Kalin looked as though he might bite. "I'm sorry this isn't good enough for you. I never would've guessed if you hadn't said something…"

Yusei spared Kalin a glance. He could be a terrifying sight when he was mad, his eyes only intensified by the eyeliner and purple make-up over his eyelids. "Kalin," he said gently.

"No," he snapped at Yusei before wheeling on Crow, who stared ahead at his food with a stern look on his face. "You can "maybe" want something all you like, but it won't matter if you can't pay for college. No one's going to take you in just because of good grades, Crow."

"Do you seriously think I don't know that?"

"_You're_ the birdbrain. How am I supposed to know what you know and don't know?"

"Become a mind reader," Crow bit sarcastically. "You know, just because something's enough for you doesn't mean it's enough for someone else. The world's a lot bigger than you like to think it is."

"Gee, Crow, I never would've guessed that. Should we pull out a globe and point out all the places I've never heard of?"

"It'd do you some good."

"Fuck off," Kalin snapped, grabbing his stuff and standing up. "Sorry for caring about your well-being. I'll make sure not to do that again. Might cause you more stress." He left his trash on the table like always and stormed out of the cafeteria, pushing through a group of girls without a care and disappearing down the hall. Yusei turned back around in his seat and glanced at Crow, who looked awful but still touchy. His gaze flickered up to the raven briefly.

"Had nothing to say about this one?"

Yusei shrugged, although he felt bad about keeping out of the conversation. Still, these types are arguments were common when Kalin was involved—he took passive aggressive to new levels. "Kalin asked me not to."

"When the hell did he do that?"

"A while back. You'll need to talk to him about it, not me," Yusei said quickly. He wondered if he should reach across the table or at the very least give Crow a reassuring pat on the back, but the smaller teen likely would not be receptive. He sat back in his seat, no longer hungry despite not eating much. "So, do you know what went wrong?"

"No," Crow answered, sitting back in his seat too and staring hopelessly at his test. "I had all the information—it was right there. I thought I did a good job on this one. Guess not."

"Were you nervous about it?"

"No more than usual."

"Did you get sleep last night—"

"Yusei," Crow said, cutting him off grimly. He shook his head. "I did everything you said. I don't know what went wrong."

"Did your teacher at least explain to you what you got wrong?"

"No. That bastard barely cares about what grades we get. He's not going to answer my questions."

"Well, it doesn't hurt to ask."

"Maybe not, but I don't want to spend any more time with that bastard than I already have to. I'm amazed I get through the class without punching him out. I don't think he even understands what the hell he's teaching us."

Yusei offered a grim smile, but it fell short. "I know how that feels…"

"How? You're the boy wonder. You learn everything even if the teachers suck."

The raven shook his head. "I was merely stating that I understand what you're dealing with. What about a tutor?"

"I had you tutoring me. If the sophomore in calculus can't help me understand math, I don't know what getting a tutor is going to do for me. Besides, that costs money I don't have."

Yusei wracked his brains for answer to Crow's problem, but he came up empty quick. This was not something he could logically think through like a math problem, but there had to be something he could do. "I don't know what to tell you, Crow…"

"You don't have to, Yusei. Just, thanks for trying."

God, he sounded so heart broken. Before Crow could start to eat his soup Yusei leaned forward and grasped his hand, giving it a firm squeeze before letting go. Crow looked briefly surprised by the affection but gave a weak smile all the same. Yusei knew the guy was beating himself up for not doing better when he spent two weeks helping him, but Yusei would help him all year if he had to. Crow was not one to slack off like Jack—at least not when it mattered. Granted, there had been times where he honestly did not care and took the grade he knew he would get, but as time started to go by Yusei noticed more and more effort on his part to do better. If Crow had asked Yusei a year ago to tutor him for a test he might have laughed and said no, but things were certainly different this year. His comment about college had Yusei intrigued, but the fight between him and Kalin was still too close. He would ask later.

Beside Yusei a chair squeaked as it was pulled out and a cup of instant ramen was set down before Jack slid into his seat. He spoke before either of his friends could open their mouths. "I don't know if someone said something to him or what, but Kalin's on his way to set something on fire. Or vandalize the bathroom. I can never tell with him, he likes to shake things up—"

"And you didn't think to, I dunno, stop him?" Yusei asked, mildly baffled by Jack's indifference. It was new.

"Why? I didn't actually know if he was up to something. Besides, he doesn't listen to me."

"You're bigger than he is! Why didn't you think to take his stuff away and sit him down?"

"Like I said, I didn't know what he was up to. He just had that weird glint in his eyes that he gets whenever he's thinking about doing something stupid."

Crow made a face. "Yeah, I wonder where he got that from…"

Yusei smacked Jack's shoulder. "_And you didn't stop him?_ You're really fucking thick sometimes. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"They have," Crow sighed. "Doesn't get through to him, though. Huge surprise there."

Jack grunted in disapproval before digging in to his ramen with the grace of a hungry monkey. Yusei thought about going after Kalin in the hopes of stopping him, but their school was huge and Kalin never targeted the same area twice for his pranks. Groaning at his own inability to help Yusei threw himself back in his chair and watched Crow and Jack in silence for a moment before he noticed Jack was wearing sunglasses. The events of the morning came suddenly came back to him and made a lot more sense, and the raven sat up to address the blonde.

"Where the hell have you been, by the way?"

"Out," Jack mumbled through his mouth full of food. "Why?"

"Just answer the question."

"Nowhere special."

"Oh?"

"Yep."

"So you haven't been to a single class at all today?"

Jack snorted in amusement. "I'm not staying for the rest of the day, either. I just snuck in to see what you guys were up to."

Crow frowned. "Where're you going after lunch?"

"Yusei's house."

It was Yusei's turn to scoff. "Not until to say where you've been, you're not."

Jack just continued to scrape up his noodles, uncaring of the threat. "I'm swinging past the store on the way. You want me to pick up anything? I'm getting more soda. You guys never remember to stock up."

"Grab some pocky, will you?" Crow asked. "Strawberry, not chocolate."

"Guys!" Yusei interrupted. "Seriously, where have you been?"

Jack almost did not seem to listening, his focus narrowed on the food in front of him and all other cares temporarily on hold. Yusei pried the ramen cup from Jack's hand, noting the delayed reaction time in the blonde and the odd smell on his clothes. Crow seemed to be putting two and two together, as well, because he suddenly smirked. "So, who was it?"

Okay, perhaps Crow as thinking some different. "What're you talking about?"

"He went a concert. I was just asking who."

"I didn't go to a concert," Jack stated, ignoring his lack of lunch for a moment. It was like watching a child who did not understand object permanence yet. "I didn't go anywhere. I was just out."

"Yeah, out somewhere fun. Where else would you be able to drink sake without people questioning your age?"

The sunglasses suddenly made sense. Yusei cautiously lifted them off Jack's face and saw dark rings under his eyes, a side effect of hangovers. Lilac eyes lazily swung to look at him, pupils still a bit dilated. He dropped the sunglasses back down. "You look like shit."

"Your hair makes you look like a deer."

"Hello?" Crow prodded. "Who'd you see? I didn't know there were any concerts in the area."

"I told you—I wasn't at a concert."

"So this ticket to see The GazettE was just something you found?" Yusei asked dryly, looking at the ticket he had freed from Jack's coat pocket.

"Damn it—" Jack snatched the ticket away and stuffed into his coat again, taking back his noodles and resuming his meal. "You guys are a bunch of little shits, you know that?"

"And you're the moron that chooses to hang out with them," Crow laughed.

Jack ate in silence as Crow settled down again, clearly in better spirits already as he tucked back into his lunch. Yusei still burned to ask Jack more questions, but figured he would wait a moment and let him eat before cracking down. He did not have to wait long, though, Jack reaching past him to take his water so he could guzzle it down.

"I sneak out all the time. What's got you so upset?"

"I didn't say I was upset."

"No, but you were using your bitchy tone with me. What's up?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just getting tired of your dad playing 20 Questions with me."

Jack paused. "He came and asked you about me?"

Yusei gave him his best pointed stare. "Oh, where do I start? Let's see… Well, there was the phone call at ten o'clock last night asking if you were at our house. Then there was the phone call at seven in the morning asking if you'd returned. And then Mina showed up at the stairs looking for us to see if you were around and checking that we weren't covering for you. _And then_ your dad had the three of us pulled out of class to give a serious talking to about the consequences of covering for people and to ask where you were. _Again_. So you tell me. Should I be mad?"

Jack did not miss a beat. "No."

He was torn between throwing his hands up in the air and hitting Jack. "Jack…go home. Now."

"I just got here—"

"Home. Now."

He started to beat on him when he did not move. "All right—I'm going, I'm going." Jack collected his lunch and started back for the door, glancing once at him and Crow but scurrying when he saw Yusei's glare. "I'm going!"

"Jesus," Yusei groaned, burying his face in his hands for a moment. Dealing with Godwin was no easy task, regardless if Yusei was the son of his coworker. He had a very large presence, if not a commanding one, and he still got chills being in the same room as him. He was not sure how Jack dealt with in on a daily basis.

_Then again, he spends the night so much he might not like it, either_…

As Yusei picked up his head Crow started to chatter on about something else, his words falling into background noise for a moment. _Jack's likely not going home, now that I think about it. Great. I'll get a hung over Jack to deal with later. Brilliant. I should've called Mina_…

Before the raven could ask Crow to repeat what he just said a loud alarm suddenly blared in the cafeteria, startling everyone in a brief silence. It was the fire alarm.

"Think it was Kalin?" Crow shouted over the ear-splitting siren.

"Probably."

Teachers ran into the room and started to usher everyone outside, waving the emergency flags to gain people's attention. The two gathered up their things and walked out with the crowd, trying not to trip over the dozens of chairs left haphazardly all over the room in the rush to leave. A lot of kids suspected that it was simply another prank and left their stuff, but Yusei had learned in the seventh grade not to do that, regardless of the burden. Prank or not, people loved using the diversion to steal stuff—sometimes even planned it on purpose. It was sad to think that people caused so much trouble for something so stupid.

Once outside, the teachers herded people in organized lines, calling out orders to find homeroom teachers so that everyone could be counted. Yusei waved goodbye to Crow and started to weave his way through kids to find his teacher. Once he found her she started the roll call, everyone accounted for and no one missing. After ten minutes someone determined that the bell had been triggered and not because of a fire, and everyone slowly chugged back in to the building. As the crowd thinned Yusei spotted Kalin still sitting sidewalk, headphones in his ears. He approached quietly and within Kalin's peripheral vision so he was not startled, and sat beside him on the hot sidewalk. Wordlessly, Kalin pulled one of the buds from his ear and passed it to Yusei to put in his. Metal blared through the speaker into his ear, but he endured the loud noise for Kalin's sake. It was not a group he recognized, but then Kalin listened to more underground stuff than the rest of the group did.

"It wasn't me," he said after a moment. Yusei looked up at the unexpected confession. "I wanted to, but I just wasn't feeling it today."

"Oh. Did you see who did it, then?"

"Yeah, it was Jack."

Somehow that felt more surprising than it should have. He did not care for Kalin's somewhat self-destructive tendencies, but he was starting to get better, at least. Jack just relapsed when he felt like pissing people off. "Are you shitting me?"

"No. That'd hurt too much," Kalin scoffed, chuckling lightly when Yusei elbowed him. "He said if I saw you to tell you if we ran into each other."

"Why?"

"I dunno. So you'd go running after him screaming? How the fuck should I know?"

Yusei rubbed his forehead for a moment. Jack likely wanted him to skip, too. "Oh, my God… So if you didn't pull the alarm, what did you do, then?"

The teen flashed him a shark-ish grin. "I Sharpied the principal's door."

"Really? How'd you do that? That's in the main hall way."

"I threw a rock at a window in a different part of the building and waited for everyone to go see what had happened. In, and out," he gestured with his thumb. "Like a pro."

"They've got cameras. They're gonna find out."

Kalin waved him off. "I don't care. They've been pulling me in for years and they still haven't kicked me out. I think they've started to accept that I'm not going to stop and are just dealing with it as they can."

"You say that now, but one day this is all gonna turn around on you."

"Like I said, _I don't care_. This school's beginning to piss me off, anyways."

"What the hell do you mean by "beginning to"? School's been pissing you off since the sixth grade."

Kalin grinned. "Why'd that start, again?"

"Because you wanted to bleach your hair and the school said it was against the rules."

"Oh, yeah," he said, the smile on his face one of remembrance. "You weren't any better, you know. When you heard I wanted to bleach my hair you were dying to get streaks and spike your hair like the visual kei people."

"Shut up. We're talking about you."

He laughed, his eyes daring as he continued to speak. "You used to wear the tightest jeans you could get a hold of and wore all these heavy belts that would drag your pants down—"

"Shut up, you little ferret." Yusei shoved Kalin to the side and the headphones fell out, the bassist giggling like a small child before he sat up and knocked Yusei onto his side completely, attacking his ribs with his fingers and eliciting stifled laughter from his friend. Yusei fought to escape the tickling but Kalin was ruthless, keeping him effortlessly pinned by straddling his thighs, their legs half on the sidewalk and halfway in the parking lot. For a moment Yusei thought the torture might go on forever until his hand smacked the side of tire and made his fingers tingle.

"Ow…" he said, sitting up so he could rub his fingers. Kalin sat back on his heels and watched with a bored expression until Yusei put his hand down, but remained sitting where he was with his hands in his lap. Yusei stared back, unsure how to read's Kalin's new expression. "Um, my legs are falling asleep, could you…?"

"Yeah, sorry," Kalin said quickly, shuffling himself off Yusei's legs and back onto the curb looking out at the school. Yusei picked up the fallen iPod to read what was playing now, but it had gone to sleep already. The two sat there for another more before Kalin quietly took the iPod back and stood up. "I think I'm gonna skip out. Don't feel like going back inside."

"Okay," Yusei said with a sigh. Kalin tried not to look guilty about it.

"Can I go to your house?"

"Sure. I'm not going to say no when Jack's already there. Hey, check on him will you? He went to a concert last night and thought it'd be smart to get drunk. Make sure he didn't throw up in my room, will ya? He likes to sleep in there instead of the guest room."

"Sure thing." Kalin turned like he was walking away, but then spun around again. "Say, you don't mind if you bed gets wet, do you?"

"Why would my bed be—oh, no. Don't even think about it."

"Aw, come on! Supposedly it helps hangovers."

"You are _not _dumping a pitcher of water on Jack while he's in my bed."

"…can I do if he's not in your bed?"

.o.

Yusei doubled stepped down the stairs to the train stop and darted across the street with the herd of people trying to cross. Cars honked at their slow pace and the pedestrians grumbled about the noise. Heading down the street a ways Yusei found his bike in between the thousands of others tied to the rails meant for bikes. His father preferred to walk home, but Yusei found that he was often too impatient for that and decided to ride to the stop instead. It also allowed him to hit any stores on the way home and not have to worry about lugging his things around. Freeing his bike from the rack and tucking the bike chain back in his bag he took off down the less crowded street, headed for home.

The garage had been largely calm that afternoon, and his boss let him head home early. He was very punctual about showing up for work, so he was allowed to skip out as a reward. He was grateful for the chance to go home earlier, not having done so in ages since he took the part time job. People were usually leaving to head home around the same time as he did, making the traffic worse and the trains more crowded. He almost forgot how empty things could be earlier in the day, and was happy for the reminder.

Autumn would set in very soon, but Japan's weather could be tricky. It would likely remain hot well into September, but he hoped not. Warm weather was nice for visiting a beach, but any other time it proved to be annoying. _We haven't gone to the beach in a while. Maybe Dad has time to_—

Yusei nearly fell from his bike when his cell phone abruptly started ringing, the ringtone out of place in the quiet setting. He slammed on the breaks and fished out the noise maker as quickly as he could, hitting the call button as he did so. "Hello?"

The most panicked voice he had ever heard greeted him. "Yusei? Yusei, it's Crow!"

"Crow? What's going on?"

"Rally's gone!"

_What?_ "What do you mean "gone"?"

"As in _he's not here anymore!_"

"Whoa, calm down. Deep breaths, okay. Just stop and breathe."

"I don't have time for this!"

"Yes, you do," Yusei ground out. "If you want to get to the bottom of this you need to calm down. Where are Aya and Tetsu?"

"_Shit_—they're here! They're fine. It's just Rally that's missing."

"Did they see what happened?"

"Yes! They said he wanted to make a surprise and then he just left the house. Just up and left!"

"Okay, Crow—Crow, calm down. Okay? You're not helping anyone by getting upset. All right? If Rally left on his own then he probably didn't go too far. How are the kids? Are they okay?"

"They're fine, just—just worrying now that I'm worrying."

"All right. Listen, have you called the police yet?"

"No, I just got in a minute ago."

"Okay. Why don't you call the police right now and tell them that Rally is probably lost and to keep an eye out for him? I'm just a minute from my house. I'll drop off my things and be right over, okay?"

"Okay—shit, Yusei, I'm sorry—"

"You don't need to be sorry. You're just doing what all big brothers do. Now hang up and call the police. I'll see you in a few."

"Okay…"

The line went dead and Yusei crammed his phone back into his pocket before pedaling as fast as he could the rest of the way to his house. His heart was still violently pounding in his chest from the news, his mind racing with too many dreadful thoughts of how things may have gone wrong. He found solace in that Rally was just doing what most kids did and likely left the house to prove he was being grown-up, but it did not quell all of his fears. Most young kids walked together in a group on their way to school, so they were only familiar with the path they took to school and thought that they would be just as safe by themselves as they were in a group. Crow's neighbor was no more or less safe than Yusei's, but strange people lurked everywhere and you always had to pay attention. He just hoped that Rally had not thought to wander somewhere underground or unpopulated.

Pulling up to his house he swung off his bike before it came to a full stop and ran it inside the garage, locking the door before venturing into the house. Both Kalin and Jack were in, but he heard neither of them moving about. Dropping his things in the living room he climbed the stairs and peeked in his bedroom, spying a very unconscious and very naked Jack sleeping in his bed. Groaning to himself he slipped inside and pulled the covers back over Jack's body and cracked open a window so that it would stay cool before he left just as quietly as he entered, not wanting to wake him and waste time contending to a hung over Jack. He darted back down the hall and back down the stairs.

Luckily for him, Kalin likely heard the thumping around and appeared in the down stairs hall, the door to the basement open. He remembered then that Kalin kept a lot of his art supplies at the house and set up a small workspace for himself, thus the lack of noise. Kalin shut the door to the basement. "Yusei? What're you doing back early?"

"They let me off work early. Listen," he said quickly. Kalin blinked at the seriousness. "Rally's gone missing and Crow's freaking out about it. Aya and Tetsu said that Rally left the house on his own, so he's probably just wandering around somewhere, but I said I'd go over to help take of things. You coming?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course." Kalin ran to put his shoes on while Yusei left a message for Hakase explaining to him the situation. As soon as the two were ready they ran back out to the garage and retrieved bikes, Kalin borrowing Hakase's. The two sped towards Crow's foster home, skidding to a halt when they spotted the drummer sitting outside with Aya and Tetsu on the sidewalk in front of the house, the two kids immersed in drawing with chalk on the ground.

"Yusei," Crow said, his voice lifting like he had been out at sea for months and just spotted land. His eyes shifted to Kalin briefly and there was a moment of silence as Kalin looked away like he was an intruder.

Yusei stepped in to erase the awkward moment. "Have you called the police?"

"What? Yeah. No, they said would have someone drive around the neighborhood and ask questions. I gave out his description, but someone's supposed to stop by for an actual picture so there's no confusion. I'm just supposed to wait here for now."

"Makes sense," Yusei agreed, unsure of what else to ask or do. "Did you call your folks?"

Crow scoffed and threw himself back down on the front step of the house. "And have them accuse me of losing one of their kids? Not likely."

"But you didn't lose Rally. He left on his own."

"And do you think they'll care? They're not exactly crazy about having me over as it is. Losing one of their children is probably the miracle they've been asking for."

"And you think the police will see it that way?" Kalin asked, catching a wary look from Crow. "You're a fucking teenager who goes to school. They're the retards who didn't think to hire a babysitter to look after their kids after school. No police officer is going think the fault lies with you just because you get home later."

Yusei could see the phrase "I _am_ the babysitter" about to form on his lips, but by whatever miracle Crow decided not to say so. "Kalin's got a point. No officer is going to convict you on the spot. And besides, you've got a million neighbors who can all vouch for when you returned home. They can't just say "it's the foster kid's fault that our child walked out the front door". There's gotta be more than that."

"Yeah, well, it'll be my luck that I get the cop that takes the parents' side first." Crow got back up on his feet and turned to go back in the house. "You know, with me being the delinquent who likes music and goes to bed at reasonable hour."

"Crow—" But his friend already disappeared inside.

"Go. He doesn't want to see me right now," Kalin said, nudging Yusei to the door while he crouched down by the kids to see what they were drawing. The raven watched him start to trace an outline around Aya's body for her with pink chalk before slipping inside the house to find Crow.

The house was not spectacularly large and had an American feel to it—or at least Jack said so. The walls were draped with a green and faded yellow striped wallpaper in some places and completely white in others, like there was not enough money to pay for one paper or the other. Only a few pictures hung on the walls and they contained old photos that had seen better times. The house was clearly lived in and the foyer was littered with children's shoes and some mud that looked fresh, likely from earlier in the day.

A peek in the living room revealed no Crow, just scattered toys and TV left on to some children's station. Yusei turned the TV off to quiet the house and listened for the sound of his friend, but like his own home it yielded no secrets. Yusei popped in the kitchen and found it equally empty, the window tilted in and the lights off, casting it in a light shadow.

"Crow?" Yusei called. No one answered. Just as he was about to head upstairs his phone chirped and he pulled it out to check his messages. His father had texted him saying that he got the message and asked if there was anything he could do to help. Yusei wrote back to him saying thanks but that the police had already been contacted and now all they could do was wait. He sent the message and stood still for a moment, the phone chirping again. Hakase said he explained the situation to Godwin, who was willing to let him go early to let him go early to come help. Yusei almost smiled at the idea—it was just like his dad to drop everything when one of the boys was in trouble. Once he had nearly gotten in trouble at work because he left during an experiment when he heard that Kalin had been in a car accident. Kalin was fine, but the panic that over took Hakase and made him rush into the hospital just about made Kalin burst into tears.

_Then again, we lost Mom. I guess that's enough to make anyone want to cling to the lives of those around them as tightly as possible_.

The phone chirped again, still Hakase. He asked where Jack was.

Yusei felt no shame in telling him where. _And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what you get for having your psycho father interrupt every waking moment of my life_.

The front door opened and closed suddenly, and Kalin came with holding Aya while Tetsu toddled after him, a stick of chalk still in hand.

"Someone wants juice," he said carefully, like the mention of juice might set off a chain reaction. He sat Aya on the counter and she waited patiently, kicking her legs back and forth. Tetsu, six and very whiny, started to complain when he saw his sister sitting up higher than him. He dropped his chalk and left a dusty trail on the floor in favor of clenching his fists together to throw a fit.

Kalin, who loved kids as long as they were quiet and slightly less immature, stared uncertainly at Tetsu as he hovered on the edges of a tantrum when Crow's arms suddenly swept him up off the ground.

"Ah," Crow said once in a commanding, older brother tone. "What did I say big boys and throwing a fit? They don't do it."

Tetsu scrunched up his red face and pointed accusingly at Aya, who sat watching contently, juice box in hand. "S'Not fair!"

"What's not fair?"

"Ug!" Tetsu grunted, still pointing at his sister.

"I don't speak "Ug", Tetsu."

"S'Not fair!" He repeated.

"Well, you're going to have to get used to that. Sometimes things aren't fair." Crow turned around and gestured for another juice box from the fridge, which Kalin happily passed off if only to avoid an outburst from the six-year-old. Crow handed it to Tetsu and walked him out of the room, sounds of the TV playing drifting through the room a moment later. Crow came back empty-handed.

"Sorry about that. Right now everything's "not fair" to him."

"It's okay," Yusei said. "We remember Aya having a phase like that. Isn't that right, squirt? I think you were four at the time."

Said girl made a face at Yusei for calling her "Squirt" before holding out her arms to Kalin, begging to be picked up. He obeyed and dutifully hoisted her up, the small girl giggling.

"Yeah, well, what worries me is Tetsu having it at six. He's too old for that stuff."

Yusei waved him off. "Are you kidding? No one's ever too old for that. Jack does it all the time, remember?"

Crow gave him a blank stare. "Jack's not a justification for anything, least of all whining."

Kalin eyed Aya's wandering hands. "He certainly likes to think he is." He tried to tilt his head back before the five-year-old got hold of his hair, but because he wore it down it was difficult keeping all of it away. Aya did not pull but it was obvious Kalin did not want her playing with it, though he made no move to set her down.

"Are you old?" Aya asked. She was too young to understand bleaching hair.

Not that that stopped Kalin. "Of course not. I'm young, just like you. I did stuff to my hair to make it white."

"Like grandma does stuff to her hair?"

"Aya," Crow called, "Grandma doesn't do anything to her hair. It turned white."

"'den why did he do stuff to it?" She looked at Kalin severely. "You're lying. You're old."

"I'm not old," Kalin denied wearily.

"Are too."

"You're very mouthy for a five-year-old."

"That's what I keep saying," Crow sighed, sharing a sympathetic look. Aya played with Kalin's hair some more when she noticed his make-up covered eyes.

"You're pretty. Are you a girl?"

_Now _he looked like he wanted to put her down. "No, I'm a boy."

"But you're pretty. Only girls are pretty."

"Guys can be pretty if they want to be, kid."

"Daddy says boys aren't pretty. You're a girl."

Crow ran in and took Aya before Kalin's eyes got any wider. Kalin would never be nasty to a kid on purpose, but he could only hold out so long with his patience before he got snarky. "Okay—you're done." The drummer carted her off to join her little brother before returning, sighing loudly and throwing himself against the counter. It was a bit fascinating to watch the transition of Crow from teenage boy to responsible older brother. One would think that there was not much of a difference, since millions of teenage boys were older brothers, but Crow made it look like a personality change. The caring factor was visible in both sides of him, but things he did to make the kids laugh was noteworthy. If there was anyone in the world who took pride in being an older brother, it was Crow.

"So now what?" Yusei asked.

Crow shrugged. "Now we wait, I guess."

Kalin smirked, voice incredibly sarcastic. "Ooh, now we can play the Waiting Game."

Both boys gave him an incredulous look. "What the hell is that?"

"We stare at each other until we all become incredibly uncomfortable with it look away. If you look away, you lose."

"That's stupid," said Crow.

"And I'm easily bored."

"If you're so bored," Yusei said, "come up with a better game. That'll keep you entertained."

"I'm _not _entertaining myself when I've got both of you here."

Yusei rolled his eyes. "Well, you're just gonna have to try. Crow, my dad said he would help out in any way he could. I think he's on his way back from work right now."

"Really? Is he heading here or—" The doorbell rang, cutting off Crow. He held up a hand in apology. "Sorry. That's probably the officer." He left the kitchen and wandered into the foyer, leaving Yusei and Kalin alone again. As the officer and Crow started to talk, Kalin stood up straight and left to the living room, Yusei trailing after when he found nothing else to do. The kids were sitting on the floor in front of the TV, but their attention was not on the screen. It was some anime Yusei had never heard of before and looked geared towards little kids, but the two appeared to be more fascinated by something else, whispering to each other. Kalin had stopped to watch them whisper, one eyebrow cocked in suspicion.

Yusei came to a halt beside him to watch, equally curious of their behavior. They suddenly stopped talking and Aya stood up and clambered onto the couch to peer over and out at the door, where Crow was still talking. She then threw herself down like Crow caught her watching and slid to the floor, all gangly legs and childish energy. Yusei could not help but smile at the enthusiasm and wondered if he was just as energetic as a kid. Somehow, he did not think so, but maybe at one point he was. Losing a parent as a young kid tended to do things to one's psychology, and Yusei knew that a part of him would always be solemn, but it was nice to think that there was a point in his life when he was not like that.

"Okay, giggle box. What's so funny?" Kalin demanded, crouching down to the kids' level. Yusei had not noticed their muffled giggling.

"Shh, shh!" Tetsu went, although he could not stop himself from being so thoroughly amused. Aya looked like she was on the verge of peeing her pants.

_Oh, God, I hope not_.

"We have a secret," Aya whispered, smiling evilly. Crow rarely got that look on his face, leaving Yusei to wonder where she copied the look from. Then again, children were born with an innate sense of evil.

"What kind of secret?" Kalin asked, already sounding fed up with the kids.

"Uh-uh."

"What does "uh-uh" mean—"

"We promise not to tell Crow," Yusei interrupted. "It's a secret he can't hear, right? We promise not to tell."

Kalin stared at Yusei. "What are you—"

"Shh," Yusei went. "Do you want Crow to hear?"

Oh, yeah. Kalin did not get it all. One might have thought Yusei had grown a second head judging by the way Kalin looked at him. When it seemed like he would not get a hint, Yusei groaned to himself and looked back to the kids. "We promise not to tell Crow."

"Promise?"

"_Promise_."

It was times like this that Yusei felt insanely grateful that he took the time to get to know the kids. Crow had had foster parents before his current set, and their unruly preteen had not wanted anything to do with Crow or Yusei. He was glad he did not give up with Crow's new foster family, though, and came and met the kids once he knew where Crow had been moved. That had taken an instant liking to him, and Yusei had worked to further their bond in case Crow ever needed help around the house or needed a babysitter because he was unavailable. Yusei had yet to be needed to babysit since Crow always put the kids first, but now that he was actually staring in the eye of a moment where a bond was needed, he was glad.

Aya beckoned him closer and Yusei kneeled down and leaned in for her. She cupped her hands around her mouth and talked into his ear, struggling not to giggle the entire time. "Rally wanted to surprise Crow."

"Surprise him? How—"

"Shh!" Tetsu demanded. Kalin watched the scene in disbelief. Yusei quieted and apologized, Aya continuing.

"He went to the park with Crow's guitar to meet you guys."

_Oh, shit_… "Can you say that again?" Yusei whispered.

"Rally went to the park with Crow's guitar as a surprise," Aya said again. She leaned back from his ear. "But you gotta promise not to tell."

He really hoped desperation did not read on his face. "I promise…"

Kalin elbowed him. "Hey. What the hell is going on?"

Yusei warily glanced at him. "Hey, remember that thing we needed to talk about?"

"What thing?"

"You know, the thing? The really important thing that Crow needs to know about?"

Kalin stared blankly. Dear God, Yusei was going to kill him in about two seconds. Jack was a moron, but Kalin was just as equally stupid in different ways. _Where the hell did I meet these people?_

"Okay, I've gave the officer a picture of Rally and he said—what's going on?" Crow screeched to a halt in the doorway of the living room and observed the scene before him with a cautious eye. "Guys..."

"Crow, remember the notes I said I needed to get from you? Can we go get those right now? I think they're in your room?"

Crow's eyes flickered back and forth between Yusei and his foster siblings, and blessedly the cogs turned and Crow nodded carefully. "Yeah, sure. Kalin, I think you'll need the notes, too."

"What notes?"

Wordlessly Yusei grabbed Kalin by the back of his neck and hauled him up, dragging him from the room and into the foyer, marching his ass up the stairs. Kalin tried to make light of the situation, clearly dumbfounded as to what was going on and apparently worried. "Geez, Yusei, if you wanted to all you had do was ask—"

"Not the time."

Crow herded them both into his room, closing the door behind them. Yusei let go of Kalin, flinging him in the direction of Crow's futon. Sure enough, Baby Black Bird was not in its corner. Crow did not like to leave it at the Fudo house because he was still practicing and learning how to play, wanting to have easier access to the guitar since he had to come home to his siblings to check they were okay. As Crow turned around to face them he took notice of the missing guitar and his eyes widened in mild shock. "Where's—"

"Yeah, that's what we need to talk about," said Yusei, hands on his lower back. "Aya said that Rally took your guitar and went to the park. The reason they didn't come forward with it is because it was supposed to be a surprise for you."

"Oh my G—"

"Rally didn't know we weren't going to the park today to play. That's probably why he did it."

"But I've only taken him to that park once! He's not going to remember the way there!"

And the panicking was back. "Crow, stop."

"Okay, so we know where he meant to go," Kalin said quickly, looking surprisingly unfazed by the disappearance of Rally. Then again, he did not know the kids all too well. Detachment was to be expected. "Why don't we start with that? If we go the way you took him to the park and then branch out onto any streets he might've mistaken for the correct path, we can narrow down the search."

Yusei gave Kalin a relieved smile, glad for the clear thinking. Crow nodded unsurely at the plan, a bit less nervous.

"It'll probably go faster on bikes," Yusei suggested. "Why don't we ride out and—"

"But what about Aya and Tetsu? I can't leave them here by themselves. They're five and six. The only reason I've been able to leave more often is because Rally's usually trustworthy enough to leave him here to watch the kids. That, or he's got friends over with him that are around his age to help keep an eye on things."

Nobody considered that. Crow flopped down on his bed next to Kalin, no doubt trying to think through the dilemma, but before Yusei could suggest anything, Kalin nudged his friend and smirked. "I think I have an idea."

.o.

"Whee!" Aya screamed as Kalin sped down the hill on his bike. Crow tried to catch up with him without going a whole lot faster, Tetsu giggling hysterically in the basket on the front of Crow's bike.

"Don't go so fast!" Crow shouted. Kalin just laughed.

"Slowpokes!"

"_Kalin!_"

Yusei pedaled behind near Crow to keep him company, laughing at the mother hen routine of his friend. Crow was not just limited to older brother—being a mother was also a part of his repertoire.

"They're fine. Aya's wearing a helmet," Yusei assured, trying not to look too amused with the whole situation.

"But the rest of her isn't!"

"Kalin won't let her get hurt—"

Tires screeched against the pavement and a driver honked at the white haired maniac on his bike. Kalin sped across the rest of the street and back up onto the sidewalk, Aya still giggling at the top of her lungs. Crow looked like he would burst a blood vessel in his head at any second.

"Happy place, Crow. Happy place."

A phone chirped and Yusei realized it was his again. He slowed his pedaling and pulled out his phone, slowing so that he could still focus on traffic while riding. "Hello?"

"Yusei," said Hakase. "I'm back at the house. Where are you guys right now?"

"Actually, we're headed your way. Provided that Kalin doesn't cause an accident."

"Why are you heading back here?"

"We found out from the kids that Rally left the house to go to the park as a surprise for Crow. We couldn't leave Aya and Tetsu at the house by themselves, so we were going to drop them off at our place for sake-keeping. Is Jack still there?"

"His shoes are. I haven't seen him, though."

"He's probably still asleep, then."

"Why's he sleeping now?"

"Let's just say that he's tired from what he was up to last night and didn't want to go home and get chewed out."

Hakase sighed. "Well, Rex didn't come back with me, so I assume that means it's all right if Jack stays."

"Don't hold your breath, Dad. He's probably just planning something worse for Jack."

"Yusei…"

"What? We know he is. No sense in denying it."

"Yes, yes, well, do you want me to wait here, then?"

"Could you? I think the plan was to head to the park after this and then work our way back to Crow's place."

"Of course. I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Thanks, Dad."

Yusei hung up and sped to catch up with the others, Crow looking ready to kill Kalin by that point. When they reached a red light in traffic Yusei took Aya from Kalin and placed her in his basket, much to her foster brother's relief. Aya begged to ride with Kalin again but Crow adamantly said no. Tetsu had another bout of "S'Not fair" over Aya getting to ride ahead before they got back to house, although he calmed down once he was back on his feet. No sooner than Yusei set Aya down she was scrambling back to Kalin's side, pulling on his pant leg to be picked up. Despite the earlier disagreement over Kalin's age and gender, he still looked willing to deal with her, although it might have been rebellion on his part.

Hakase opened the door and Yusei followed everyone in, Kalin heading for the living room with Aya and Tetsu following after. Crow lingered in the foyer, clearly stressed and ready to get going.

"I'm gonna head out now," he said without waiting, already moving for the door. Yusei stopped him.

"Wait. We need a plan first. We don't need people wandering about needlessly. How do you want to do this?"

"Uh, start at the park, I guess."

"And then?"

"Look down the streets? I dunno—this was Kalin's idea."

"Kalin looks more interested in corrupting your sister," Yusei grumbled, indicating the white haired bassist laughing in the living room. "Give him an hour and he'll have her writing metal lyrics. We're leaving him here."

"I'll go with you," Hakase offered, his parenting instincts no doubt picking up on Crow's distress. He looked grateful for the intervention of an adult and nodded his thanks. Yusei sighed and left them to talk for a minute, darting up to the second floor to check on Jack. He did not have to go far, the blonde emerging from the bathroom naked save a towel around his waist.

"There you are," he said, drawing closer. "Where were you? I thought you got off of work sooner?" His skin still carried beads of water, and his spikes had fallen from his head, leaving him with a dark blonde mane that looked long enough to pull into a ponytail. Without having to get close Yusei could tell that Jack had applied some of Yusei's cologne, a pheromone that instinctively marked Jack as _his_.

He took a deep breath when he felt his manhood tingle. _Not_ _the time, not the time_…

"Sorry, Yusei apologized. "Stuff came up and the whole afternoon's been kinda crazy."

"Do tell," Jack smirked, disappearing into Yusei's room. Glancing in the direction of the stairs, Yusei listened for the sounds of small children before following Jack, deciding to quickly update him about the situation.

Not that Jack looked willing to give him that chance. He was already tugging his pants on, forgoing underwear. It was not difficult to read his mind or sense that he hoped for a small diversion later that evening. "Hey, when's dinner?"

"I dunno, why?"

"Cause I found something online I wanna try."

At first Yusei thought he meant food, and was about to ask what when he caught Jack staring at him waiting for a very different response. It took him a second when he realized that Jack did not mean food, and red filled his cheeks. "Oh…"

"Seriously, Yusei?"

"Sorry. Today's been a little insane."

He sighed, disappointed. "Does that mean "no"?"

"No, it means "later"."

Like a girl, Jack pouted and sat on Yusei's bed. The urge to hit the look off his face was strong. "How much later?"

"Judging by the fact that Godwin knows where you are, I'd say at least a week later."

"Aw, man…"

Jack threw himself back and lay down against the bed, an arm thrown over his face dramatically. Yusei drew close and sat on the bed next to him, Jack's pale hand already coming up to take hold of Yusei's leg and massage the side of it with his thumb. Yusei laid his hand of top of his. The lights were off and the window continued to let cool air drift in. The door was already closed, and it would not take much to kick his shoes of and lay down beside his friend. The atmosphere was so much calmer than chaos outside, and he was tempted to escape it for the rest of the day.

_And doing so would make me the biggest asshole on the planet. Lovely, Yusei. Just lovely._

"I'm sorry I forgot to leave a message or something. You were asleep when I got in and I didn't want to wake you, and Crow was flipping his shit so there wasn't a whole lot of time."

"What happened?

"Rally decided to walk himself to the park and told his siblings to keep it a secret, so Crow's been freaking out about him being lost. We're just about to head to the park to start looking for him."

"Why the hell would Rally do that?"

"To surprise Crow. He thought that we were going to the park today and wanted to be there for Crow with his guitar."

"You want me to come along?"

"Actually, could you say here with Kalin and the kids? I think he and Crow are still at odds and I wouldn't put it past Kalin to start teaching Aya and Tetsu things they don't need to know."

Jack finally turned his head and looked at him, blinking once. "And you think I'll be a better role model why?"

"I don't think you'll make a better role model, Jack. You're just better about kids."

"Gee, thanks."

Someone knocked on the door. "Yusei, we gotta leave. It's going to start getting darker soon and Crow doesn't want to be out all night searching."

"Okay, Dad." Yusei turned to Jack. "Just make sure no one breaks anything, okay? Get out the Wii or something and have them play _Mario Kart_."

Yusei got up off the bed and made for the door, Jack sitting up behind him. "But I swear when I drive!"

"Then we'll set out a swear jar."

Crow lovingly flipped Kalin the bird before the three of them got on the bikes again and headed to the park. It was not a long trip, the park only a few blocks away, thus the convenient place for them to play. Hakase led the troupe and Crow let him, his face set to a blank look as they pedaled down the street. He remembered Crow mentioning that his foster parents would be delighted if Crow got into so much trouble that there was reason to kick him out. He had not mentioned such issues before, and it was worrying to hear. Just how long had things been so bad? And if they wanted him out so badly, how come they did not try harder?

_I wonder what's wrong. Crow does such a good job taking care of the kids, and he's really responsible. Hell, he doesn't ask for money! What could possibly be_—

"Rex?"

Yusei's head shot up in shock. Godwin? Looking out across the park he spotted the familiar gray-haired man, his long hair loose in favor of the usual tail wore. The clothes were equally different, dark, tight jeans clinging to his legs and a button up shirt hanging loosely off his torso. Were Godwin anyone else he might have though the man was trying to be a rock star. Or gay. _Is Godwin gay? I never thought to ask Jack_… He was sitting down at one of the chess tables, the little Rally sitting on his knees on the bench while he leaned over the table. Pieces were scattered to the side, Godwin playing the black and Rally the white. Godwin laughed at something Rally said, and the little boy giggled at his own cleverness.

Hakase pedaled up to the tables and hopped off his bike, earning a smile from Godwin like he expected to see them there. "Hakase."

"What're you doing here?"

"Well, you did mention that one of my son's friends had a brother that went missing. Did you honestly expect that I would just sit by and let you go out and have all the fun by yourself?"

Hakase smiled and shook his head, propping his bike up against a tree. "Even after all these years you're still surprising me, my friend. So, Rally…"

Yusei leaned his head and forearms against the handlebar of his bike and sighed, the excitement over. A glance at his watch told him that the whole thing had taken place in about three-and-a-half hours, but he could have sworn it had been longer. Sitting up, he leaned back on the bike, his feet on the ground. "Well, that took less time than expected. I guess he knew his way to the park, after all."

Crow nodded minutely, a hand over his mouth as he leaned on his own handlebars. Yusei stared at him, confused by his lack of movement. He expected him to jump off the bike and tackle the boy to the ground in a crushing hug. Then again, losing Rally was a pretty big shock to him. He was likely taking a moment to slow his heart.

Yusei nudged him. "Come on."

Crow followed him quietly to the playing table where Hakase now sat beside Rally. Rally, the boy having grown bored with their grown-up talk, leap to his feet when he saw Crow approaching. Gangly legs carried his skinny body to Crow and the little monkey leapt up onto his foster brother, Crow taking him up in his arms desperately and holding him close. Yusei left them for the table, spotting Baby Black Bird sitting propped against the table. He picked it up, but paused to look at the chess board. It seemed that Godwin was teaching Rally the finer points of chess, or at the very least introducing him to it. There was no really strategy to be seen on either side of the board, most of Rally's captured pieces including pawns he likely snatched up without much consideration. On Godwin's side the pieces had been stacked to form a small pyramid, the irregular pieces balanced evenly despite varying heights. It was cute.

"Crow," said Hakase. "Rally said that he was waiting here as a surprise."

"Surprise!" Rally said on cue, laughing to himself.

"I'm surprised, alright," Crow said nervously, putting Rally down. His face had blanched when Godwin said his name. "I didn't think you would do this."

"Duh, that's what a surprise is," Rally drawled. "Where were you guys? You took a long time to get here."

Crow did not look like he had the strength to answer. The meeting had left him speechless, and he made a face at his own helplessness. Yusei answered for him, although he worried about Crow's inaction. _He's normally on top of things_… "We weren't playing here today, Rally," Yusei explained. "That's why were weren't here. But we didn't think that you would want to surprise us, so we didn't say anything."

Hakase stepped in suddenly, as if noticing Crow's reserve. Rally had looked bored with Yusei's response, but seeing an actual father made him pay attention real fast. "That was very nice of you to think of Crow, Rally. But you can't disappear like that without telling someone, first. Everyone was very worried about you."

"But you found me," Rally whined.

"We did, Rally, but Aya and Tetsu had to tell us first. If they hadn't told Yusei, we'd still be out looking for you near your house."

"Aya and Tetsu said that they wouldn't tell…"

"Maybe they did, but I'm glad that they told us. What you did was very irresponsible, Rally. You have two younger siblings who can't take care of themselves. Crow relies on you to take care of them while he's still at school, and leaving them was not a good idea. They could have gotten hurt while you were away, and no one would have been there to help them."

"Oh…"

"I know you were trying to be funny, Rally," Crow said quietly getting down closer to Rally's height to look him in the eye. "But you can't do that every again. Do you know how worried I was about you? I thought that someone might try and take you and I'd never see you again."

Tears had not started to roll but they were in Rally's eyes, the poor boy slowly realizing just how much trouble he was in. Crow's house was not in for a peaceful evening, that much was evident. "But I'm okay…"

"And I'm grateful for that, but Rally—what you did was very wrong. Do you understand?"

He nodded, curls bouncing with his head. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and let his head hang, but Crow pulled him back into another hug.

"I'm glad you're safe, Rally."

As they hugged Godwin quietly stood up and came to stand by Hakase, watching the pair with him. "I'll make sure they get home," he said, nodding at the hugging brothers. "And I'll sit down with his parents, just in case."

"Thank you, Rex."

He shook his head. "It's not a problem."

Yusei glanced at the adults before interrupting the scene, handing the black acoustic back to Crow. He took it graciously and slid it over his body, the strap coming across his chest and the guitar resting on his back. The drummer spared a glance at Godwin, face still pale but eyes burning. A look passed between the two before Hakase moved to pick up his bike, dissolving the moment. Rex started across the park, gesturing for Rally.

"I brought my car. I think it would be safe to drive him back than have him sit with you."

"But what about Aya and Tetsu?" Yusei asked.

"I'll drive past for them. Besides," he said lowly, "I need to pick up Jack."

"Of course," Hakase said politely, not missing the underlying irritation. Yusei got back on his bike but pulled out his cell phone, writing a quick text to Jack.

**u there?**

**yes :P**

**Godwin's coming / better run while u can**

**fuck / thanks**

Yusei wondered what it was that Jack wanted to show him, but pushed his interest into the back of his mind for the time being. Jack was going to be grounded for a long time. He thought to put his phone back in his pocket, but remembered an earlier question.

**btw / is godwin gay?**

.o.

**So this chapter was more action based than character development, so I apologize to those expecting something else. Not every chapter can be character based, though, otherwise this shit would get boring! XD I'll try to make things more character based next chapter.**

**25 pages! I think the first chapter was 20 or 21. I'm hoping to keep things in the 20 range.**

**To anyone with song suggestions, let me know! I need songs for the titles, as they kinda explain the chapter in some ways, and I don't want to be limited to my music only. If you have any good suggestions (and it can be anything, I need nothing specific) please send me the titles and the artists. These can be your favorite songs, or songs that you think might portray these guys well, or anything. I'm open.**

**If I don't respond right away, I apologize in advance. I'm flying on Monday, and it will be about 24 hours before I have access to a computer. On the bright side, I'm getting a new laptop to replace the computer I blew up (ish). XD **


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